Shock.
That’s how Randall Houston best described the news last Saturday when he got a phone call no one expects.
A colleague and friend of almost 20 years was gone. Just like that.
Last Saturday Sam Partridge, former chief assistant district attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit, died suddenly.
He was only 46.
“Sam was a friend and like a younger brother to me,” said Houston, current district attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit.
Partridge worked for Houston for 10 years, first as an intern.
After law school, Houston hired Partridge as a paralegal until he passed the bar exam and then later as a lawyer in the DA’s office. Partridge later became first chief assistant under Houston until 2005.
Partridge worked for the Alabama State Bar Association until February 2012, when he left to begin his private practice.
Just a few weeks later, Partridge became part of a defense team for one of the higher-profile murder cases in Elmore County.
Partridge was defense counsel for Joshua Caspari, who is charged in the brutal murder of 20-year-old Anna Cardwell.
All indicators pointed toward Caspari’s capital murder trial beginning sometime this summer, but it could be delayed.
“As far as I know (the case) is on the same path as it was,” Houston said. “In the near future, (Circuit Judge Ben Fuller) will have to assign a new lawyer to the case. How fast the new lawyer gets up to speed may determine whether defense asks for a delay.”
Caspari is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Cardwell inside of her mother’s home in the Flatwood community Feb. 15, 2012. Cardwell allegedly let Caspari inside the house. They later had a verbal argument. Caspari allegedly shot Cardwell in the back. She allegedly tried to escape out the kitchen door, but Caspari allegedly pulled her back in and shot her in the back of the head.
During Caspari’s arraignment hearing his defense team said their client was not guilty by reason of mental defect or mental disease.
A few months ago, the defense team lost one original member when James Houts left his private practice to accept a position within state Attorney General Luther Strange’s office. Since Houts’ departure from the case, Bill Lewis has filled that role on the Caspari defense team.
“(Lewis) has been on the case for some time, and he’s up to speed. Our goal is not to start to scratch with this case,” Houston said. “But things could change.”
