SACRAMENTO — A lawyer who had been accused of smuggling drugs and contraband to an incarcerated Aryan Brotherhood member died last month before federal charges against him could be resolved, records show.
The death of 48-year-old Kevin McNamara was made public in court filings this week. He died of natural causes on Feb. 21, after months of hospitalization.
McNamara has been confined to a wheelchair since 1997, after suffering a severe injury in a car crash. As a lawyer, he came to represent a man named William Sylvester, an Aryan Brotherhood member who was convicted last year for murder and racketeering in a massive federal prosecution.
McNamara was one of two dozen people indicted as part of a wiretap case aimed at taking the Aryan Brotherhood down. Prosecutors said he smuggled tobacco and methamphetamine to Sylvester during a legal visit at California State Prison, Sacramento. Authorities caught wind of the plot and set up a hidden camera in the visiting room, catching him in the act, records say.
McNamara was indicted in 2019 but never got his day in court. His case was postponed repeatedly as his health slowly deteriorated. Last year, his lawyers openly doubted the case would ever get resolved, stating in court filings that he was in hospice and unresponsive to outside stimuli.
McNamara’s paralegal who was present during the legal visit pleaded guilty and testified against Sylvester last year. Her husband, Charles “Boots” Demar, was an incarcerated alleged skinhead gang member that answered to the Aryan Brotherhood, authorities said. She was released from jail, but recently arrested again for failing three drug tests and “exhibiting disturbing and deceitful behavior,” authorities said in court filings.