Prominent Moorestown Civil Rights Attorney Found Dead in Mt. Laurel Hotel

A prominent Moorestown Civil Rights attorney from Cherry Hill was found dead in a hotel room in Mt. Laurel, NBC 10 reports.

The body of 61-year-old William Buckman was found in a room at the Residence Inn on Route 38 on Tuesday, according to the report.

In 1996, Buckman was the lead attorney in the trial of New Jersey State Police Officers accused of racial profiling. He helped get the charges dismissed against 19 men charged in that case, according to The Burlington County Times.

That case helped pave the way for the federal assessment of traffic stops of minority drivers by state police.

In December, he represented a deputy state attorney who was allegedly beaten by police when he was arrested at his bachelor party in Atlantic City in 2008, according to The Press of Atlantic City.

Buckman, a graduate from Rutgers School of Law, was the president of the William Buckman Law Firm.

He began his career as a superior court clerk in 1978. He turned his focus to capital murder and Civil Rights cases in 1997.