Veteran local prosecutor retires amid kudos from colleagues

Published:

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Randy McGruther is retiring as chief assistant state attorney, overseeing the prosecution of crimes in five counties in southwest Florida.

Colleagues laud him as fair and balanced, an attorney who weighed and  treated each case individually.

“I make an orientation talk to the new attornies, and I just tell them:   Do what is right.   Seems simple, and it is: you treat each case separately, and you try to be fair and balanced,” McGruther tells WINK News.

He prosecuted the Lords of Chaos in the 1990s, and says the leader of the group, Kevin Foster, frightened him more than any other defendant.   He says Foster gained control of the gang in just a few weeks, as they moved from petty theft to arson to murder.

“That was really scary,” says McGruther.

He also was heavily involved in the prosecutions of Juan Mendez and Fred Cooper for murder.

Steve Russell, the state attorney says of McGruther:   “He has a balance and an ability to see the big picture.   He is always looking to do the right thing, while protecting the public and the victims of crime.  We are going to miss him,” says Russell.

“I just try to do right,” says McGruther.

After 35 years in the attorney business, McGruther plans to buy a motor home and tour the country with his wife.  That would start next summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.