SAN DIEGO – The California lawyer who for years made sure white supremacist Tom Metzger made payments on a judgment for his role in the killing of an Ethiopian man studying in the U.S.
took no money for himself from the case but ended up with something priceless: a son. Attorney James McElroy became close with the victim’s family and eventually adopted the man’s son, who was 7 at the time of the killing and grew up to be an airline pilot.
McElroy calls the bond with his son “the best fee that I ever got out of a pro bono case.” McElroy has been largely quiet about the adoption.
But he feels more comfortable speaking publicly since Metzger died last week in California at age 82. McElroy, 69, worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center to get.