Crime Victims Attorneys

An attorney who took on child murder and civil rights cases nobody else wanted was killed in a drive-by shooting as he walked near his Santa Fe, N.M., office to court. Carlos Vigil, 52, died on a sidewalk just yards from the Steve Herrera Judicial Complex, where he had represented clients in a variety of cases, often charging them only what they could afford to pay.

An attorney who took on child murder and civil rights cases nobody else wanted was killed in a drive-by shooting as he walked near his Santa Fe, N.M., office to court. Carlos Vigil, 52, died on a sidewalk just yards from the Steve Herrera Judicial Complex, where he had represented clients in a variety of cases, often charging them only what they could afford to pay.

The woman accusing Kobe Bryant of sexual assault could have received no more than $20,000 from a public fund that compensates crime victims, and attorneys for the Laker star want to know who paid for visits they say she made to expensive addiction treatment centers. Twice in recent court filings, attorney Hal Haddon asked prosecutors to divulge the amount of money the 19-year-old woman and her family have received and its source.

It could be the emergency room of any large metropolitan hospital. People slump in hard chairs, dozing. Mothers with restless toddlers in strollers wait. Teen-agers pace, unable to stand still. One by one, in a relentless stream, they are called to a hole cut in the middle of a thick, bulletproof glass window plastered with signs warning against AIDS, drugs and alcohol.