The federal judge in New York handling the prosecution of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has died.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein died of natural causes Wednesday morning just shy of his 93rd birthday, according to Laura Taylor Swain, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“Judge Hellerstein was an insightful and dedicated lawyer who, following a distinguished career in the private sector, served with distinction for over 25 years as a distinguished jurist of this court,” Swain said in a statement, in part. “His energetic and dedicated service to this Court continued until his death. He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed.”
“We were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein’s passing and offer our condolences to his family,” Nicolas Maduro’s attorney said in a statement to ABC News.
Hellerstein was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and oversaw a diverse array of federal cases in the nation’s preeminent district court, including litigation involving the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, over which Swain said he presided “with sensitivity, fairness and efficiency.”
Born in New York City on Dec. 28, 1933, Hellerstein earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1956. He clerked for Judge Edmund Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1956 to 1957 and served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps as a first lieutenant from 1957 to 1960, according to Swain’s statement. He subsequently worked as a litigator at a New York law firm from 1960 until his appointment to U.S. district court by President Clinton.
A new judge will be randomly assigned to take over the Maduro case and Hellerstein’s other matters, according to the court.
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