Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering

Palsy or Abuse? Disabled Lawyer Accused of Slapping Judge

A disabled lawyer, Hippocrate Mertsaris, 35, has been criminally charged with sexual abuse and harassment for allegedly slapping a Taxi and Limousine Commission judge on the rear end. His lawyer insists that his client had an involuntary movement due to his cerebral palsy.

Mertsaris’ lawyer, Wyatt Gibbons, insisted that “[h]e whacked her in the butt but it wasn’t sexual abuse. He has spastic movements.”

Gibbons insisted that in his condition he cannot control such movements: “If he was starving to death and had a hamburger in front of him he couldn’t lean over to pick it up.”

The judge, however, viewed the incident as a sex crime and insisted on reportedly pressing charges.

For the full story, click here.

12 thoughts on “Palsy or Abuse? Disabled Lawyer Accused of Slapping Judge”

  1. James M,

    I know that. I meant he offered it as a general defense. You don’t strike me as the kind of guy to make that charge. It does also bring to mind a funny story from childhood.

    One of my older cousin’s had a friend named Reggie. Reggie was blind and had been from birth. Well, my cousin was at home on suspension for a trick he pulled at school and I was out for parent/teacher conferences. When I got to Brett’s, Reggie was there. It appears there had been some defacing of school property – scared lockers, scratched paint – going on for weeks and no one knew the culprit.

    Until Reggie got caught “dueling” with his cane against another blind student in the hallway the day before.

    The lesson of the story of course being that handicapped and/or disabled people are still people and as such, your point that mischief is a possibility is not without merit. But this was a professional in a professional setting. He might play “accidental” grab ass at a bar or private party, but at work, I find it unlikely he’d do it at work given how hard he had to work to get there.

  2. Buddha, I wasn’t suggesting that he was faking his condition or even that his movement in this case wasn’t involuntary. My point was that someone with cerebral palsy (perhaps a less advanced case than that gentleman) could still decide to slap someone’s ass and blame their disease. From the perspective of a stranger who doesn’t know the person, it might be hard to tell whether a particular movement was involuntary.

  3. Welllllll

    Okay. You earned it.

    Good non-trolling, bdaman.

    Helping defend the charges of “faking it” with no spin and nothing extraneous at all and on topic earns you . . .

    a gold star.

    I told you it’s been weird around here.

    If you’ll pardon me, I need to check the weather in the City of Dis.

  6. Calls to mind the DC administrative law judge who filed suit for $67,000,000.00 against his dry cleaner for losing his suit pants for two days. Absolute power may corrupt absolutely, but a judge of the Taxi and Limousine Commission? Come now, that only merits partial debasement.

  7. James,

    Or go donate a little time to help kids with CP or some other neurological disorder that cause involuntary movement.

    Trust me, these people would much rather have control of their own bodies, but the medical fact is that sometimes they don’t. And they aren’t faking it. They can’t stop no matter how much they may want to when the nerves misfire. It’s a biologically chemical/structural problem.

    I’m with Byron. I hope this twit loses her job over this frivolous lawsuit or at a bare minimum is censured by the bar.

  8. James M;

    go watch the video Bdaman posted, if he is faking it he needs an Oscar for best performance. If he is faking it I will kiss your ass on the capital steps at noon.

    That judge is an a$$hole to not drop this. I hope she loses her position and this guy files a civil suit for something.

    If I were the judge in that trial I would let him off on time already served. To be in that condition and to be able to earn a BA or BS let alone a law degree is a testimony to his intelligence and perseverance.

    Quite a remarkable person.

  10. Buddha, from the outside it’s hard to tell if it really was involuntary or if that’s just being used as an excuse to get away with bad behavior.

  11. This is probably the first time she has been slapped on the ass or if you read the article it states

    “Queens prosecutors have charged Hippocrate Mertsaris, 35, with sexual abuse and sexual harassment for allegedly grabbing the woman’s inner thigh and buttocks during a meeting in her Kew Gardens offices.”

    NY this type of claim, what next? Will they build and unsinkable ship?

  12. I can hear a Taxi and Limousine Commission judge being laughed out of court right now.

    What part of “involuntary movement” doesn’t she understand?

    Apparently all of it.

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