Federal Prosecutor, 35, Dies After Courtroom Collapse

A 35-year-old federal prosecutor who collapsed moments after arguing motions in a long-running fraud case died of a heart attack a short time later.

Robert F. DePippo had just finished arguing a case Friday involving accusations of bribery at a Tecate golf course development when observers heard “a sound of distress,” said defense attorney Robert Brewer.

“DePippo’s face was down on the table and [another prosecutor] was bending over him,” Brewer said. “It was very obvious Rob was having trouble.”

U.S. District Judge Judith Keep cleared the courtroom and paramedics were called. Another federal prosecutor, who is also a doctor, rushed in to administer aid, but to no avail.

DePippo was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

“It was very upsetting,” Brewer said. “There he was, face down on the table, and just two minutes before he’d been talking, arguing a motion.”

DePippo’s sudden death stunned members of the U.S. attorney’s office and others in the legal community. U.S. Atty. Alan Bersin called DePippo “a colleague and a brother to many of us.”

“It was just terrible,” Brewer said. “This is the kind of thing that really puts events into perspective.”

DePippo, an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department, was working as a special member of the financial institution fraud division in San Diego.

A 1987 graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, DePippo in 1991 moved from a private law firm to the Justice Department as an attorney specializing in fraud cases.

DePippo was not married but had relatives in New York, including his brother, Henry, who was one of two senior assistant U.S. attorneys in the World Trade Center bombing case.