24-05-2025
Seasoned defense attorney dies after medical emergency in Miami federal court: report
A veteran South Florida attorney died after suffering a medical crisis while waiting in a federal courtroom Friday morning, a report says.
Around 10:40 a.m., Miami Fire Rescue rushed to a medical call at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse, MFR Lt. Pete Sanchez said. A man was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital suffering a medical emergency.
According to a blog that covers South Florida's federal court system, the man was Paul Donnelly, who was awaiting a sentencing hearing before District Judge Jacqueline Becerra. U.S. Marshals Service agents and co-counsel were aiding him during his medical crisis before Miami Fire Rescue arrived.
Donnelly, whose law career spanned more than 30 years, was 57.
'What an absolute tragedy,' the post read. 'Paul Donnelly, a really good guy and great lawyer, died this morning. ... He died pursuing justice.'
Recently, Donnelly represented the first defendant to plead guilty in the murder-for-hire case involving big-time Miami-Dade developer Sergio Pino, who killed himself on July 16 before being charged for allegedly directing a plot to murder his 55-year-old wife, Tatiana.
READ MORE: Two men hired in Pino's murder-for-hire plot plead guilty — the first to admit to the crime
On the federal court blog, several of Donnelly's friends and colleagues shared their condolences.
Senior Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. spoke to the Miami Herald and remembered Donnelly as a hard-working, caring attorney. When Scola became a judge in the mid-1990s, Donnelly was one of the first assistant public defenders assigned to his courtroom — and quickly became an attorney he respected, Scola said.
'He was a great young lawyer. He fought hard for his clients, but was a gentleman,' said Scola, who remarked that the news of Donnelly's passing was shocking. 'It is such a shame that someone that young was taken from us.'
Attorney Eddie Pereira remembered Donnelly as 'one of the nicest and funniest attorneys I have ever had the pleasure to work with and call my friend,' he wrote on the blog.
The pair worked together on Pereira's first federal trial, which happened to be before Scola.
'Paul made all of us laugh at every sidebar, including Judge Scola,' Pereira wrote in recalling the trial. 'I will miss him very much.'
Attorney Christian Dunham also wrote on the blog, 'Donnelly was really smart, an excellent trial lawyer, funny as hell and was always willing to take younger lawyers under his wing.'
'He loved our work, he loved to talk basketball and he loved to talk all things Boston!!! Rest in Peace to the big guy from Fall River,' Dunham continued.
