David McSweeney was a small-time criminal who graduated to premeditated murder. He was arrested for Assault with a Deadly weapon in 1997 and Conspiracy to Commit Fraud in 1999. He was represented in both cases by Mitch Lester. He was not convicted in either case, probably due to the intervention of Judge Mary Holder, Lester's wife. After that, McSweeney participated four times in jury frauds under the direction of Holder and Lester. In 2007 he killed defense attorney Jerry Vincent and he participated in another jury fraud in the case of Walter Elliot. He assumed the identity of Rodney L. Banglund who lived in Palos Verdes and worked as an aerospace engineer for Lockheed. When it was discovered that McSweeney was not who he claimed to be, he attempted to kill Mickey Haller but was arrested by Harry Bosch and FBI agents who were monitoring Haller. McSweeney then agreed to a plea bargain in which he would avoid the death penalty in return for his testimony against Holder and Lester.
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