Lawyer charged with bringing cocaine in Pittsburgh courthouse

PITTSBURGH (AP) — An attorney who rose to prominence defending a high school student accused of selling drugs that led to a fatal overdose has been charged with bringing cocaine into the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh.

Atty. Keenan Holmes, 29, of Peters, has not returned calls to his law office today.

He was charged after county sheriff’s deputies saw a dollar bill suspiciously folded up when Holmes emptied his pockets to go through a metal detector Thursday. Authorities say the bill contained a small amount of cocaine.

Holmes is best known for successfully defending a wrongful death suit against former New Castle High School student Joshua Stewart, who claimed he was wrongly accused of selling drugs to another student who overdosed in 2007.