Attorney plans appeal in street-gang conviction

CHICAGO – A lawyer for an alleged national leader of the Latin Kings street gang says he'll appeal his client's conviction on racketeering and other charges.

Jim Graham said Thursday that part of his appeal on Augustin Zambrano's behalf will cite the judge's ruling at the start of the trial that the jurors' names would never be released.

He says that fact prejudiced his client by signaling to jurors he was so dangerous as to require an anonymous jury. Jurors were only referred to by number.

They convicted the 51-year-old Zambrano in Chicago on Wednesday after a six-week trial highlighting a drug-selling operation that prosecutors alleged used murder and other violence to protect its turf.

Prosecutors praised the conviction as a major blow to one of the nation's most powerful gangs.