Circuit shorts

Assistant U.S. attorney Rodger A. Heaton of Springfield will serve as interim U.S. attorney for the Central District for 120 days and may become the successor to Jan Paul Miller.

Currently the office's civil chief, Heaton has been a federal prosecutor since 1989, except for private practice with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago from 2001 to 2003. He is a McLean County native and a graduate of the Indiana University Law School.

Miller, who was appointed U.S. attorney four years ago, left the office at the end of November to become a partner in business litigation and corporate compliance and defense with Thompson Coburn in St. Louis and Belleville.

As district attorney, he created the Central Illinois Cybercrime Unit and initiated Operations Trapline and Rattlesnake to curb the production and distribution of methamphetamine in Tazewell, Fulton and Knox Counties.

Judge Gene L. Nottolini, who was chief judge of the 16th Circuit during its relocation from the Kane County Courthouse in Geneva to a modern judicial center in St. Charles, retired Nov. 30 after 21 years on the bench.

After 16 years in private practice, Nottolini was appointed an associate judge in 1984. He became a circuit judge in 1988, presiding judge of the Family Court Division in 1991 and chief judge in 1993.

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Presiding Judge Ronald Dozier of the 11th Circuit Criminal Division in McLean County, announced last month that he plans to retire in October 2006 after 19 years of service.

Dozier became a county prosecutor in 1973 and was elected state's attorney in 1976 at age 29. He served until he became a judge in 1987.