Denny Hecker gets a public defender in fraud case

Failed auto dealer magnate Denny Hecker's lawyers have been playing musical chairs for a while now, alternately abandoning him and rejoining his cause as his bank account ebbed and flowed. Today, the music stopped and Bill Mauzy walked away for good. He'd been representing Hecker against federal charges that he defrauded Chrysler Financial and other lenders out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

KARE reports that U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Nelson approved Mauzy's request to withdraw from the case because he hasn't been paid. And the federal defender's office appointed Brian Toder, a local private attorney, as Hecker's new defense attorney. The trial starts Oct. 18.