A Dallas County assistant district attorney Jody Warner is out of a job after berating and striking an Uber driver in an intoxicated rant. The Dallas County District Attorney fired her after the driver Shaun Platt, 26, posted an account of the encounter on Facebook.
Continue reading “Texas Prosecutor Fired After Posting Of Drunken Abuse of Uber Driver”
The unfolding disaster surrounding Roy Moore truly gets worse the day. In the last 24 hours, two more women with highly compelling accounts described the same conduct of Moore pursuing very young girls while a prosecutors in his 30s. This includes a girl who Moore allegedly pulled out of her trig class in high school to ask out. She said that she later avoided him after one date where she felt he forced himself on her against her will. Moore has made the situation worse with conflicting and unconvincing statements about his alleged penchant for very young girls. However, if Moore’s self-defense has been wanting, the defense by two of his lawyers has been even worse.
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the highly controversial move of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to use Paul Manafort’s own lawyer as a witness against him. What is most striking about this move is that it was entirely unnecessary given the other evidence of alleged violations of federal law governing foreign agents. The case against Manafort is strong but the denial of attorney-client protections in the case should be a matter of great concern for all citizens — regardless of your view of the underlying merits of the Russian investigation.
Below is my column in USA Today on the Rick Gates indictment and his potential as a witness for the prosecution in the Mueller investigation. The other obvious concern for the defense should be General Michael Flynn. It is curious that there was no indictment of Flynn given his similar alleged violations involving work as a foreign agent. Flynn would also be a natural target for prosecutors in seeking cooperative witnesses. With George Papadopoulos’ plea and cooperation, other witnesses will start to consider whether they will get a chair when the music stops. The President’s attack on Papadopoulos certainly sends a chilling message for those who might follow his lead, but these are heavy potential charges for potential targets.
Here is the column:
Dmitry Shubov has finally finished a determined and prolonged effort of self-destruction. Shubov is a disbarred lawyer and founder of LegalMatch.com who has now been arrested for a sexual relationship with a minor. His site pairs older “sugar daddy” or “sugar momma” adults with younger people. In this case, the girl proved to be 14 years old.
Continue reading “[Not-So] LegalMatch: Disbarred Lawyer Facing Charges Of Sexual Assault On A Minor”
Yesterday, we discussed the potentially precarious ethical position of Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyer Marc Elias, who allegedly denied media reports that the Clinton campaign had any connection to the controversial Russian Dossier. After the Washington Post ran an extensive story on how the Clinton Campaign and Democratic National Committee hired controversial research firm Fusion GPS to dig up dirt on Donald Trump in Russia in the “Russian Dossier” matter. Reporters at the New York Times have accused Elias of lying in past categorical denials of any connection to Clinton or the DNC. The reports indicate that not only did the Clinton team fund the opposition research but that Elias may have been the person handling much of the arrangements. Now Elias’ position has worsened after a report out of Congress that he was present in an interview when campaign chairman John Podesta denied any campaign role in the funding or acquisition of the dossier.
Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias is under fire today after the Washington Post ran an extensive story on how the Clinton Campaign and Democratic National Committee hired controversial research firm Fusion GPS to dig up dirt on Donald Trump in Russia in the “Russian Dossier” matter. Reporters at the New York Times have accused Elias of lying in past categorical denials of any connection to Clinton or the DNC. The reports indicate that not only did the Clinton team fund the opposition research but that Elias may have been the person handling much of the arrangements. Update: Brian Fallon, former spokesperson for the Clinton campaign, has said that this was “money well spent.” On CNN, Fallon said that the “sensitive nature” of the project meant that it was kept to a small number of people that did not include him. Fallon’s expression of satisfaction with the work however conflicts with what reporters say Elias told them. He notably sounded a lot like Trump in saying “opposition research occurs all the time.” Christoper Steele is a foreign national who was seeking information from foreign sources to use against Trump.
Feminist attorney Lisa Bloom is under fire from all sides over her work on behalf of Harvey Weinstein, a producer who is accused of breathtaking attacks of sexual harassment against those under his control or influence. Much of the criticism has accused Bloom as well as Clinton advisors like Lanny Davis. However, there appears to have been push back from her actual clients at the Weinstein company, particularly after Bloom’s television appearances where she seemed to struggle with defending Weinstein. Bloom called Weinstein “an old dinosaur learning new ways,” as if calling women to your room in a bathroom and demanded massages was an acceptable old way in the last two centuries. Bloom also said publicly that her media client engaged in “illegal” conduct — a surprising admission for someone serving as a spokesperson who happens to be a lawyer. Critics raised the hypocrisy in Bloom’s past attacks on accused harassers and her awkward defense of Weinstein. Now reports suggest that company board members raised not only a possible conflict of interest in the case but some remarkably ill-conceived advice from Bloom in managing the scandal. Weinstein himself was fired yesterday. Bloom has responded to conflict issues raised in her Weinstein contracts by distinguishing legal from non-legal conflicts of interests.
Continue reading “Bloom Out As Weinstein Adviser Amidst Questions Over Conflicts and Tactics”
Randy Washington, 36, may face a rather unsympathetic jury in his lawsuit against courtroom deputy sheriffs for excessive force. Washington has accused them of excessive force in restraining him after he decked his lawyer in court. Washington hit Jessica Lyons as she tried to defend him on a murder charge. Washington says that he was not resisting but was slammed to the ground — resulting in a broken wrist.
CBS has fired Hayley Geftman-Gold, the network’s vice president and senior counsel, after a bizarre and disgraceful tweet saying that she is “not even sympathetic” to victims of the Las Vegas shooting because “country music fans often are Republican gun toters.” We have been discussing the free speech concerns over employees being disciplined for expressing their political or religious viewpoints on social media. However, this is a news network that contractually reserves the right to terminate employees for conduct deemed inimical to its journalistic image or mission.
This afternoon I have the honor of speaking to the District conference in Washington state. The program in Spokane will feature speakers like the Honorable Chief Judge Thomas Rice of the Eastern District of Washington and the Honorable Judge Richard Tallman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as well as Washington Attorney General Robert Fergusan. I will be speaking on Executive Privilege and the new controversies raised by the Trump Administration from immigration to sanctuary cities to war powers.
Continue reading “Turley To Speak At Bar Association Conference In Spokane”
White supremacist Dylann Roof says that he has something of a problem on his hands: he has court-appointed counsel who happen to be Jewish and Indian. He has asked the court to replace Alexandra Yates and Sapna Mirchandani in his appeal of his death sentence for the massacre of nine people in the Emmanuel AME Church during a Bible study in 2015. Roof appears to believe that the right of counsel includes the right to white counsel. It doesn’t. The court should not be a vehicle for racial or religious discrimination to cater to the wishes of a homicidal fanatic. More importantly, that is the view of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the allegations raised by the White House over the alleged misconduct of former FBI Director James Comey. It is clear that Comey violated FBI rules and regulations — offenses that would have likely cost any of his subordinates their jobs at the Bureau when he was director. However, there remains a virtual news blackout on the obvious violations and their implications.
Here is the column.
The spokesman for the New York State Court system has been fired after a disastrous butt-call to a reporter in which he admitted barely working to earn his $172,000 job. David Bookstaver, 59, was previously stripped of his duties but he remained as “communications director” with his high salary and virtually no work. That is when the spokesman was undone by the accidental dialing of a reporter and a four-minute tirade in which he laughed about this sweet job.