EAST ST. LOUIS (AP) — A southern Illinois man not only didn't hold a grudge against the judge who sent his father to prison, he asked the judge to officiate his wedding.

U.S. District Judge William Stiehl presided over the marriage of 21-year-old Donald Brown Jr. and his sweetheart last month in the same East St. Louis courtroom where he sentenced Brown's father, Donald Brown Sr., to 12 years in prison on a drug dealing conviction in 2000, the Belleville News-Democrat reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/HLekPY ).

Brown Jr., who joined the Air Force and who plans to graduate college in the fall, was just 9 when his father was sent to prison. He became interested in law and in high school began observing and taking notes at federal court proceedings. He said he was repeatedly drawn to Stiehl's courtroom, unaware of the judge's link to his father's case until he told his father one day how much he was learning by watching Stiehl's cases.