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Defense Attorney Huerta Remembered For His Humanity

Tribune file photo

Marcelino Huerta successfully defended Lori Roberts Horne in 2004 during the case against former city housing czar Steve LaBrake. Huerta died Thursday at the age of 56.

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By ADAM EMERSON

aemerson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 21, 2009

Updated: 03/21/2009 04:11 pm

Marcelino "Bubba" Huerta III, a prominent defense attorney in Tampa whom colleagues called a consummate professional, died Thursday. He was 56.

Huerta died at his home following complications from the brain cancer he fought for nearly 14 months. His wife, Terri, and daughter, Caroline, were at his side, reading his favorite passages from the Bible.

Huerta, the grandson of Spanish immigrants, spent most of his career practicing criminal defense. Fellow lawyers say that, in a profession where egos loom large, Huerta showed a soft-spoken humanity.

"Lawyers can be unkind to other lawyers, but I never really saw him get sideways with people," said Scott Tozian, a lawyer who shared office space with Huerta. "But in a tough situation, you'd want him in your corner."

In September, Huerta was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, the first Hispanic to win that distinction, his wife said.

He was a graduate of the University of Florida, where he played baseball on scholarship, and the South Texas College of Law. He spent his first four years in law working as an assistant state attorney for Hillsborough County.

He attended Plant High School in Tampa, where he lettered in football, baseball and basketball. His father, Marcelino Huerta Jr., was the football coach for the University of Tampa Spartans.

"He was a very devoted son and was very proud of his heritage," Terri Huerta said.

Her husband performed a lot of pro bono work, but he never bragged about it, she said.

He took great joy in his defense work, and he was never attracted to corporate law. "He liked the more personal interaction in representing somebody," she said.

His cancer crept quickly, but he remained defiant and told his doctors to "bring it on" when he visited them, Terri said.

In his final hours, lying in bed, his wife read a Bible verse important to him

From Paul's letter to the Romans: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God …"
Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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