Monday, March 08, 1999
Son follows dad as prosecutor
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — The fact that Rob Sanders is practicing law for the Kenton commonwealth attorney's office could be a matter of fate, or, in legal terms, good old-fashioned precedent.
He was born in 1972, the same week his father passed the bar and began a job with the office.
While some fathers would read to their children and tell them fairy tales, Bob Sanders was prone to talking about his cases.
Then there were the visits to the courtroom at a young age and seeing his father triumph at a trial.
Rob Sanders can't remember a time when he didn't want to be part of that world. “I wanted to be a lawyer and I wanted to prosecute,” he said.
“I wanted to be in court (and) in trial. I don't want to talk on the phone all day. (And) I'd rather put people in jail than keep them out.”
Mr. Sanders, 26, has been getting that chance since Jan. 1, when he joined the commonwealth attorney's office.
He mainly handles sex offenses and already has gone to trial once. He will get his second chance Tuesday, when he will be the prosecutor in a first-degree rape trial.
“Getting ready for trial is like getting ready for that championship ballgame all the time. You've got butterflies in your stomach,” said Mr. Sanders, who graduat ed from Summit Country Day School in Hyde Park, Tulane University in New Orleans and Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.
Going after the bad guys seems to be in the Sanders' blood.
Mr. Sanders' paternal grandfather, Jess Sanders Jr., was assistant police chief of Covington and, after retiring in 1975, did police work at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and the Kenton County sheriff's office. He passed away in March 1998.
Tradition of service
His great-grandfather, Jess Sanders Sr., was a Covington police officer.
His father worked at the commonwealth attorney's office between 1972 and 1980. He prosecuted some high-profile murder cases during that time.
His son also would like that opportunity.
That's one of the reasons he decided to stick around Northern Kentucky when he graduated from Chase last spring.
He remembers considering a job with the Cook County prosecutor's office in Chicago, but decided he would have to invest too many years before getting any trial experience.
Since he joined Kenton County's staff, he has been in the courtroom almost every day. He said the Kenton County building is like its own little community, and he's enjoyed talking to people familiar with his father.
There also are a couple of women who used to work with his father in the commonwealth attorney's office. They would watch him when he visited the office and his father was stuck in a meeting.
“Now, they take good care of me,” he said. “A lot of people made me feel at home. It's made the transition into this job a lot easier.”
Out on his own
The young lawyer is determined to make a name for himself but doesn't deny he's following in his father's footsteps.
In many ways, he wouldn't mind being like his father, who left the commonwealth attorney's office to become a defense attorney in some well-known murder cases and now mainly works with civil suits.
The young lawyer wants to be as well-respected, to have a knack for “winning the unwinnable cases” and to have the same “relentless pursuit of excellence.”
He is guided by the same principle his father uses as a computer screen saver: “Pursue the truth and do justice. Always be right and never give up.”
“When dad tries a case, there is no stone unturned, never anything left out,” said Mr. Sanders, who worked at his father's practice while in law school and now is prone to stopping by toward the end of the day.
Dad can't wait
Meanwhile, the elder Mr. Sanders can't wait to see his son in the courtroom. He's biding his time, wanting to let his son become more comfortable before showing up.
“The question is, "How long can I resist?'” he said. “I can't wait to sit in the back of the courtroom and watch. Law has been a pretty exciting career for me, and I hope it is for him.”
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