Cook County Assistant Public Defender Henry Hams was charged with felony aggravated battery in the case. During the trial he told the jury he was defending himself against an assault when he grabbed Assistant State's Atty. Mike McCormick by the neck, threw him to the floor and straddled him to prevent him from getting up.



"I have a right to defend myself if threatened," Hams told the jury. "I was thinking tactically, what is the best way to handle this situation."



Hams, 49, said he had just left a hearing in the Criminal Courts Building at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago when he saw the alleged victim in a ground floor hallway and approached him to ask about getting some documents relevant to the case.



He said McCormick, 52, of Orland Park, quickly became verbally abusive and pushed him.



"I just felt Mike McCormick was a bully," Hams said. "He got in my face."



Hams said he told McCormick to back off, but he didn't. He said he thought McCormick was going to hit him, so he grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground as a way of protecting himself.



"He was coming toward me with his chest out," Hams said. He also said that the prosecutor was so close and angry that the prosecutor was spitting in his face while talking.



Sheriff's deputies intervened and the prosecutor was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries. But he had to have an operation on his neck within weeks of the incident and is suing Hams in civil court.



On Tuesday McCormick told the court that Hams attacked him without provocation, and said that although the two exchanged heated words, he was stunned when the alleged assault took place.



Hams was charged with a felony, instead of a less serious misdemeanor crime, because the incident happened in a public building, officials said.



They said Hams has been a public defender for more than 20 years and still works in the public defender's office.