Weinstein lawyer Donna Rotunno a familiar player in suburban court dramas
The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump isn't the only legal drama that's captured the nation's attention this month.
In a New York City courtroom, Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein continues to face women accusing him of sexual assault and other improprieties. And right at his side is Wheaton native and defense lawyer Donna Rotunno.
Rotunno joined the Oscar-winning producer's defense team in July, telling reporters that it's the type of case "that lawyers that do what I do live for."
"It gives us an opportunity to have a forum to speak what we believe, and I believe that the facts and evidence in this case are actually very favorable to Mr. Weinstein," she said at the time.
Defending men accused of sexual misconduct is nothing new for Rotunno, a public critic of the #MeToo movement largely inspired by the Weinstein case. Some of her more notable cases have been heard in the suburbs, including those of:
• Demarco Whitley. Rotunno defended the former Glenbard West High School football star when he was charged along with a teammate of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in a car parked in Rolling Meadows. Whitley was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in the only sex crimes case Rotunno has lost at trial.
• Mohammad Abdullah Saleem. The cleric who operated an Islamic school in Elgin was charged in 2015 with sexually abusing a teenage student and 22-year-old woman who worked there as an office manager. A year later, Rotunno helped the then 77-year-old Saleem reach a plea deal in which he admitted to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and was sentenced to two years of probation.
• Cory Powers. Rotunno is representing the now former Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District firefighter against allegations he sexually assaulted a family friend in her Deerfield home in 2018. Powers is scheduled to face trial in March on a charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Among Rotunno's other clients have been Chicago fashion designer Elhadji "Haj" Gueye, who was acquitted of rape charges in 2014, and ex-Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle. Rotunno represented the former football star during the prosecution and trial of Marni Yang, who was convicted in the 2007 slaying of Gayle's pregnant girlfriend, Rhoni Reuter, in Deerfield.