Attorney who grew up in Trotwood is new leader of Atlanta defense team for Trump

A veteran Atlanta-based defense attorney born in Trotwood now is leading the Atlanta legal team for Donald Trump, according to media reports emanating from Fulton County, Georgia, where the former president surrendered Thursday evening for booking at the county jail on a multiple-count indictment on state charges.

>> RELATED: Live updates - Trump in Georgia to surrender at Fulton County Jail

The lead attorney is Steve Sadow, who, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, grew up in Trotwood and attended Marietta (Ohio) College. Sadow relocated to Atlanta to attend Emory Law School. He remained in Atlanta after graduation. He told Georgia Super Lawyers magazine that has spent his entire career practicing criminal law.

Sadow is “special counsel for white collar and high profile defense” with Schulten Ward Turner & Wiess, LLP.

Thursday morning, Sadow filed an appearance on Trump’s behalf in Fulton County Superior Court, stating he was now “lead counsel of record for Donald John Trump.” Sadow replaces Drew Findling as Trump’s lead attorney in the case, Politico and the New York Times reported.

Sadow has been involved in several high-profile cases involving prominent individuals. According to the Journal-Constitution and Georgia Super Lawyers magazine, Sadow has represented:

* R& B singer Usher as well as Hip Hop performers Rick Ross and T.I.

* Radio and TV personality Howard Stern

* Jeffrey Sweeting, a co-defendant in the 2000 murder trial of NFL linebacker Ray Lewis. Sweeting was acquitted in the double-slaying that occurred after a night of partying in the Buckhead section of Atlanta after Super Bowl XXXIV. The murder charges against Lewis were dropped.

* Steve Kaplan, owner of the Gold Club in Atlanta. Sadow was lead counsel in the federal racketeering case involving the now-defunct strip club where sports stars received sexual favors. Kaplan entered a guilty plea and in 2002 was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison.

* Sergio Kitchens. Kitchens, who is the rapper Gunna, entered a negotiated guilty plea with the state that allowed him to suspend additional jail time and maintain his innocence in exchange for pleading guilty to violating Georgia’s RICO law.

According to Politico, Sadow has been publicly critical of the way racketeering charges have been leveled by Georgia prosecutors, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2021 — as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her Trump-related probe — that the statute has been “overused.”

Trump stands indicted by a Fulton grand jury on 13 felony counts that include racketeering, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer and conspiracy to commit false statements and writings, in conjunction with his efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Eighteen others were charged with him, including his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.