James Herbert Wilkerson

James Herbert Wilkerson (December 11, 1869 – September 30, 1948) was a United States federal judge.

Born in Savannah, Missouri, Wilkerson received an A.B. from DePauw University in 1889. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1893 to 1922. He was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1902, and was a county attorney of Cook County, Illinois from 1903 to 1904. He was a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States from 1906 to 1911, and was then the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1911 to 1914. He was a chairman of the Illinois Public Utilities Commission from 1919 to 1921.

On July 11, 1922, Wilkerson was nominated by President Warren G. Harding to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Kenesaw M. Landis. Wilkerson was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 18, 1922, and received his commission the same day. On November 24, 1931 he was the judge who sentenced Al Capone to 11 years in prison. He assumed senior status on December 31, 1940, serving in that capacity until his death, in 1948.

Sources

• James Herbert Wilkerson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.