New Judge Appointed In Giardini Sex Trial

Circuit Court Judge Gaines McCorquadale of Clarke County will be the presiding judge if former Mobile County prosecutor Steve Giardini is retried on charges of sexually enticing an undercover FBI agent who he thought was a 15 year old girl.

GROVE HILL, Alabama - Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb appointed Circuit Court Judge Gaines McCorquadale of Clarke County to be the new judge in the Steve Giardini case.

Giardini, a former Mobile County prosecutor who specialized in sex crimes against children, is accused of sexually enticing an undercover FBI agent who he thought was a 15 year old girl. His first trial ended with a hung jury in May.

The first judge assigned to the case resigned two weeks later. He was appointed after all of Mobile County's judges recused themselves.

McCorquadale graduated from the University of Alabama in 1971. He was appointed to the First Judicial Circuit Court in 2009 by Governor Bob Rile