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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING KULMEET "BOB" GALHOTRA
WHEREAS, Kulmeet "Bob" Galhotra retired from the Cook County Public Defender's Office in December 2019 after serving 29 years as an Assistant Public Defender. At the time of his retirement, he was a supervisor in the Homicide Task Force, a special unit in the Public Defender's office that represents defendants in homicide and capital cases; and
WHEREAS, born in India - where he was nicknamed "Bob" by family members, for either Bobby Kennedy or the Bollywood film "Bobby". Galhotra moved to Chicago with his family at age 5. Reflecting on his move, Galhotra remembered that there was snow on the ground the day they arrived. There was not even a word for "snow" in Punjabi, his first language; and
WHEREAS, Bob was raised in Chicago with his brother, who is now a doctor. He started college at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) as an engineering student but switched majors to English. He graduated with Honors in 1987. After a short internship writing technical manuals, he registered for law school at IIT Chicago Kent Law School. His first experience through a clinic in a criminal courtroom hooked him on criminal defense work. He was hired by the Cook County Public Defender two days after taking the bar exam; and
WHEREAS, during his tenure at the Public Defender's office, Bob has undertaken 30 murder trials in front of juries and nearly 100 bench trials. A number of his cases were widely publicized, including the recent Harris case out of Rockford, Illinois and the Andrew Warren case. Bob successfully negotiated a plea agreement for Warren, who was charged, along with former Northwestern University professor Wyndham Lathem, with the murder of Lathem's boyfriend; and
WHEREAS, Bob was recognized by his peers for his encyclopedic knowledge of case law and the increasingly technical aspects of criminal law from DNA to cellphone technology. He also had great insight into the temperament and taboos of the judge...
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