3 Armed Men Invade The $8 Million Mansion Of A Federal Judge And Her High-Powered Husband

According to police, the men targeted the home because it was large -- 27,000 square feet, to be precise -- and not because of its high-profile owners.

Despite their power and prestige, federal judges are just like us, in ways both good and bad. On the bad side, they are victims of crime — often preyed upon by criminals who have no idea of their high judicial station. Back in 2012, for example, Justice Stephen G. Breyer was robbed at knifepoint inside his Caribbean vacation home.

And now word comes of another high-profile jurist who was the victim of a home invasion. From Cincinnati.com:

Three armed men invaded the home of Federal Judge Susan Dlott and her husband, attorney Stan Chesley, police said. Officials said the couple was robbed at gunpoint inside their Indian Hill home just before 11 p.m. [on Friday].

And it’s no ordinary home: it boasts 27,000 square feet of living space, sits on 5.3 acres, and was bought by the couple for $8 million back in 2004. (Federal judicial pay doesn’t get you an $8 million mansion; Chesley was for many years one of the nation’s top plaintiff’s lawyers.)

The size and splendor of the house are apparently what attracted the invaders. According to WCPO, “Police said they believed the men targeted the home because it was large and not because of Chesley or Dlott.”

Here’s how the invasion went down, according to Cincinnati.com:

The suspects, all armed with guns, kicked in the basement door of the home in the 9000 block of Camargo Drive, threatened to shoot Chesley and Dlott, then ordered them around the house while taking items, according to police reports.

Court records state that at one point Chesley was pushed down a small set of stairs and injured.

Lt. Rich White of the Indian Hill Rangers said the suspects were leading Chesley and Dlott into the garage of their home when they heard a beeping noise and fled from the house the same way they came in.

After the men left, the couple made their way their through the woods to their neighbor’s house and contacted the police, White said.

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The police arrested three men — Terry Jackson, 21, Darrell Kinney, 20, and Demetrius Williams, 20 — within an hour of the break-in, during the course of a traffic stop for rolling through a stop sign. A fur coat — presumably Judge Dlott’s (although note that Stan Chesley is a plaintiff’s lawyer) — was sticking out of the trunk. When police opened the trunk, they found other stolen items as well as three rifles.

This episode is only the latest stroke of bad luck to befall Stan Chesley, who at one point was one of the country’s most successful mass-tort lawyers but who has suffered serious setbacks in recent years. As my colleague Kathryn Rubino noted last month, perhaps all too presciently, “You’d think that after being disbarred, being ordered by a court to refund excessive legal fees in a class action, turning government witness against former colleagues, and having his law firm dissolved and placed into receivership, not much else bad could really happen to the man. But you’d be wrong.”

Whoever is convicted for this home invasion will be in real trouble. As we know from the murder case of David Messerschmitt, a former intern in her chambers, Judge Dlott knows how to write a powerful victim impact statement.

We wish Stan Chesley a speedy recovery from his injuries and hope that he and Judge Dlott can someday feel secure again in their home after this terrible crime.

UTR Cribs: Judge Dlott’s Federal Judicial Mega-Mansion! [Underneath Their Robes]
3 armed men invade home of federal judge and husband Stan Chesley [Cincinnati.com]
Police: Embattled attorney Stan Chesley robbed at gunpoint in Indian Hill home
[WCPO Cincinnati]

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Earlier: Breaking: Justice Breyer Robbed By Knife Wielder
Things Get Worse For A Disgraced Lawyer (Who’s Married To A Federal Judge)
David Messerschmitt’s Murderer Gets Sentenced