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Popular lawyer dies peacefully
By Matt Flores
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 03/08/2003 12:00 AM
Bill Berchelmann, a criminal defense lawyer known as much for his affability at the courthouse as his acumen in the courtroom, died Friday.
Berchelmann, 51, died quietly at his North Side home, surrounded by family. He had been battling cancer.
"From the moment you met Bill, you felt like he was your best friend," said close friend and restaurateur Chris Madrid, who met Berchelmann in grade school at Mount Sacred Heart. "Life was not a dull moment with Bill around."
A former prosecutor, Berchelmann became a defense attorney in the 1980s. He handled many high-profile cases, including those of several capital murder defendants.
Berchelmann also worked on the appeal of Yolanda Saldivar, who was convicted in the 1995 fatal shooting of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez.
"He's one of the best lawyers I've ever worked with," said brother-in-law Terry McDonald, himself a lawyer and a former state district judge. "And, there's not a person I've ever met who didn't love him."
The two were paired together on many cases through the years, but perhaps none garnered more attention than the first case they tried together: the murder trial of San Antonio patrolman Farrell Tucker.
Tucker was acquitted of murder in 1987 in the slaying of fellow officer Stephen Smith, whom Tucker maintained he shot in self-defense.
Besides his courtroom ability, Berchelmann was immensely popular with defense attorneys and prosecutors, mainly because of his humorous side.
"He could handle bad times with a joke, and that's why people liked him," said state District Judge Raymond Angelini, another longtime friend.
In 1991, Berchelmann made headlines outside the courthouse when he became a heart transplant recipient. Doctors had given him three weeks to live after a virus attacked his heart, and he underwent a successful transplant operation Aug. 7 of that year.
He often joked with colleagues about being an honorary member of the Mexican American Bar Association because the donor was Hispanic.
He married Ellen Lindig, the nurse who tended to him while he was in intensive care.
"It was a good deal," the lawyer said at the time. "I went to the hospital and got a new heart and a new girlfriend."
In the ensuing years, Berchelmann spent many weekends with his family on trips to the coast or at nearby Canyon Lake.
He was known for his sense of humor, and family members often found themselves in the unenviable position of being the subject of his jokes — no one more frequently than his wife.
In one of his favorite responses to convenience store clerks, when asked if he would like a bag, he commonly would respond, "No thanks, I've got one in the car."
"But he meant it sweetly," Ellen Berchelmann chuckled.
Other survivors include his daughters, Melanie Berchelmann, Natalie Berchelmann and Courtney Berchelmann, all of San Antonio; stepsons Chad Lindig and Kurt Lindig, both of San Antonio; sisters Mary Ann Davis of Seguin, Katie Gothard of Austin, Christine Mann of San Antonio and Johanna McDonald of San Antonio; and brother Joseph Berchelmann of St. Louis.
Funeral arrangements are pending with Porter Loring Mortuary.
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