More sad news

This news from Patrick Lewis at the Johnson County Public Defender Office:

Probably by now all of you have heard, but just in case I'm writing to let you know that at 5:15 this morning our friend and brother, Byron Cerrillo, passed away. His death leaves us with great sorrow and grief. He was a great trial lawyer, teacher, boss and public defender. He challenged each of us to be the best we could be. We will remember him always and miss him dearly.

He began feeling ill about June 15th and saw his doctor immediately. Within two weeks he had a diagnosis of probable pancreatic cancer. Surgery was scheduled for July 7th. His surgery was extremely difficult and left him very weak. His condition seemed to get a little better and then worse. This morning he slipped away. He is survived by his wife, Kelly, daughter, Jenny, step daughter, Shelly and step sons, James and Chris and step daughter Jennifer and several grandchildren.

Services are Friday July 28, 2006. Visitation with the family will be 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Memorial service will begin at 1:00 p.m. They will be at McGilley &
Fry Funeral home in down town Olathe, 105 E. Loula, (913) 782-0582. The family will be receiving visitors at the home after the service.

The family is requesting in lieu of flowers, donations to a memorial fund in Byron's name for litigation students at Center for Trial Advocacy at Washburn Law School or the American Cancer Society. Donations can be made at, or can be sent through, the funeral home.

What a terrible blow. I was just working with Byron in May at the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program at Washburn. His commitment to the students was obvious; he would always stay late into the evening to be available for them and they were glad for his help. I never worked directly on a case with Byron, although I did several appeals and they were always well litigated and well preserved records. In every interaction I had with him with BIDS and at Washburn, he always was the model of what a public defender should be.

Here is a link to the Kansas City Star obituary. The Star had a nice article about Byron.

[Note: the link to the Kansas City Star articles have expired.]