We previously discussed the infamous case of Tawana Brawley and Al Sharpton, now a MSNBC host. In 1987, Brawley, a black teenager, falsely accused a prosecutor, a New York police officer and a state trooper of a racist attack and rape. The racial animus was fueled actively by Al Sharpton who used the case to propelled himself into national fame or infamy. She later recanted and a court ordered damages to be paid by both Brawley and Sharpton — neither of whom paid. The falsely accused former Dutchess County prosecutor Steven Pagones tracked down Brawley living in Virginia and working as a nurse last year. He is owed $190,000 in damages against Brawley, now 40.
Brawley delivered 10 checks totaling $3,764.61 as the first payments under a court order. The court ordered the money garnished from six months of Brawley’s wages as a nurse there. That is more than Sharpton paid.
In 1987, Sharpton made himself a national figure when he organized protests after Brawley was found inside a plastic bag behind an apartment house in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. She was covered with feces and racial epithets smeared on her body and accused various white men, including Steven A. Pagones, a former Dutchess County assistant district attorney. Sharpton attacked Pagones and the other men with Ms. Brawley’s lawyers, Alton H. Maddox Jr. and C. Vernon Mason.
Pagones was added to the list of people who abused Brawley after he came forward with an alibi for Fishkill Police Officer Harry Crist Jr. Within three days to coming forward to say that they were Christmas shopping together on one of the days, the Brawley team accused him of attacking her. Various celebrities from Bill Cosby to Spike Lee to Don King came forward to demand justice in a bonanza for the little known Sharpton at the time.
A grand jury eventually found that the account was a hoax and Pagones successfully sued Sharpton, Maddox, Mason and Brawley. Sharpton has never apologized for his role and failed to pay the damages until various businessmen came forward to pay the damages for him in 2001. As opposed to Brawley, he is not hard to find. He is a host on MSNBC every night. Sharpton’s $66,000 damages were paid by friends, including the late O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran. Yet, an apology is still not forthcoming from Sharpton.
Brawley is liable for interest at 9 percent, so the amount is $431,492. It is the height of irony. Sharpton fuels the hoax and stands next to Brawley throughout her lies as these men are destroyed publicly. He then becomes a close adviser to a president, a television host, and media favorite without paying a dime. She however is now looking at half a million dollars in damages.
Brawley is living under a different name: Tawana Vacenia Thompson Gutierrez in Hopewell, Va. and working as a licensed nurse at The Laurels of Bon Air nursing home. She can challenged the garnishment of her wages every six months, but this could take a lifetime to pay off.
Notably, Pagones is saying that he might waive interest — a huge amount of money — if Brawley “fesses up.”
I must confess that I have little sympathy for Brawley or the others. I feel sorry for 28-year-old Fishkill Police Officer Harry Crist Jr., who committed suicide a week after the false charges were made against him, as well as the rest of these men who were demonized in the relentless press conferences and marches by Sharpton and others.
Media reports stated that Brawley filed a brief on July 22d through Maddox, who has also resurfaced. According to reports, the brief states that she would not appear in court because the court “inferentially sympathizes with the Confederate States of America, would be contrary to the US Constitution and would amount to a ‘badge of slavery.’” That sounds like Maddox who is quoted as saying “The common law applies to whites . . . The slave code still applies to blacks.”
If true, that filing by Brawley (now Tawana Vacenia Thompson Gutierrez) would seem to guarantee that she will face garnishment for the rest of her life. While she may believe bizarrely that Virginia courts are still agents or sympathizers of the Confederacy, she will find that her wages will be paid in union scrip. As for Maddox, if he did indeed file such a brief, I am not sure of his status as an attorney or his ability to file papers in Virginia since some articles refer to him as disbarred. If he is a bar member and filed such statements, his professional status could be subject to a review if he files frivolous or meritless claims.
A graduate of Boston College of Law, In 1990, Maddox was indefinitely suspended by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn after failing to appear before a disciplinary hearing to answer allegations regarding his conduct in the Brawley case.[10]
In 1996, Maddox was ordered to pay New York State legal costs for filing a false complaint of racial bias. In 1997, Maddox and his group, the United African Movement, were fined $10,000 by New York City’s Commission on Human Rights for denying a white teacher access to a speech by Cornel West on the basis of her race. In a letter on a group’s website, Maddox chastised an individual for suggesting that he was disbarred:
I am still licensed to practice law even though New York falsely represented to the federal court in Maddox v. Prudenti et. al. that I had been “disbarred”. Your office made false statements to the federal court. My federal complaint only alleged that I had been suspended from the practice of law. There is a substantial, legal difference between a suspension and a disbarment.
Indeed, there is a difference and one that a few people in Virginia may be exploring at this very moment.
NINE PERCENT INTEREST! That’s confiscatory and highly unfair. Makes as much sense as throwing people in jail for failure to register/insure their vehicle. Yeah, she should pay the award, but current interest rates are basically nil. Blame the Fed for that.
Is not Al Sharpton from NYC? A Yorkie.
Did Sharpton know from the get-go that Tawana was not being honest? And if he didn’t, at what point did he realize that things were not as they seemed and the attack never happened. That is when “The Rev” should have spoken up or at least bailed out of the mess. I think the fact that he did not, and has refused to accept his financial responsibility, speaks volumes about his character. “The Rev”… indeed.
@PSmith
And there’s no limits on this phenomen of stars gerring away for acts which would have sent normal people to jail: after all O.J. Simpson got away with murder and Polnski with child rape.
Steve Pagones was right to enforce this judgement. He was slandered, libeled and demonized. Sharpton got off too easily.
Ralph I believe it is MSNBC. Having him is way too liberal a policy, at least for whom they hire.)
PSmith that happened to me with a med. mal case The doctor was a “name” and committed perjury but Gov Ridge nominated and he was confirmed as sec’t of health for Pa (1995-1996) (despite all being advised of the perjury called so by Pa Supreme Court. Those with a name or cachet can get away what the rest of us never could, and then get hired to trade in on it.
Nal nailed it. Accusing someone falsely of rape is not just a lie, it’s a FELONY!
leejcaroll – The message is clear: If you are famous enough (or can become famous enough), you can avoid responsibility for some of your words and actions, even if they are criminal. It’s true of Sharpton, Nancy Grace, Sarah Palin and many others.
I don’t have respect for Al Sharpton. He’s more of a charlatan than anything.
This is just another reminder that Al Sharpton is a vile, despicable, verminous low-life. That CNN gives this creature air time and his own show confirms what intelligent people already know about CNN: it is a filthy, disgusting, and putrid network designed for mindless subcretinoids. But someday I shall really tell you how I feel about Sharpton and CNN.
However, Sharpton was wonderfully satirized in The Bonfire of the Vanities, the novel by Tom Wolfe. Wolfe created a composite character of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in the form of Reverend Reginald Bacon. Excellent movie version too, directed by Brian DiPalma. Of course, the critics brutally panned the movie. They just hate it when a movie tells the truth about its “heros” and the media.
And besides, it’s not like Sharpton put her up to it. It was her own idiotic idea. So legally, Al isn’t culpable. BUT he deserves serious demerits for stupidity.
THIS is the reason that people sided with Zimmerman.
I have zero sympathy for Brawley. She lied and she maintained the lie. Her age is not a mitigating factor. False rape allegations make reporting actual rape even more difficult for victims. I hope no one steps up to pay her debt. She should have to pay for the rest of her life.
Let us also not forget the right round Reverend’s role in fanning the flames of the Duke University Lacrosse Team case to national bonfire status.
It’s a shame that this charlatan uses the banner of civil rights to promote his own personal gain. It’s worse that racial relations regress every time he involves himself in something. And it’s sad that he still has followers hanging on his every move in spite of all of his counterproductive shenanigans.
Mike A I agree with you. It was bad enough what she did and she, and her family if I recall, started it all before the others got involved so it was a circus fairly quickly but then once Sharpton et al took over yes it spun completely out of control But it was also the media machine They loved the story.
Brawley was a dumb teenager who told a horrible lie and quickly got caught up in a racial whirlwind far beyond her ability to control. Sharpton and the lawyers ought to pay every dime of the judgment as a matter of simple morality.
It is also interesting that she will be paying for a lifetime for a mistake that she made as a teenager. What case does that remind you of?
Sharpton’s posse should have left him to pay his own judgment.
Wasn’t there some type of fund-raiser she and Sharpton attended last week? Wouldn’t be surprised if she was given a $190K honorarium.
“I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise”
I lived in NYC when this happened. She should have to pay but it is the height of irony that Sharpton, as you said, helped fuel it,and gets away better then even just scot free.