We have long discussed our close alliance with Saudi Arabia despite that country’s denial of the most fundamental human rights for women, non-Muslims, journalists, and political dissidents. While the State Department continues to vaguely reference “reforms” in the Kingdom, the Saudi Sharia courts and religious police continue to generate shocking medieval cases where people are flogged or executed for exercising free thought or associations. The latest outrage is the death sentence given Ashraf Fayadh, a Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art scene. He has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam, being an atheist (which he denies) and insulting Saudi Arabia. Many view his real offense as being his embarrassment of the infamous religious police (mutaween) in Abha after he posted a video of their lashing a man in public. As is often the case in the pseudo, “courts” of Saudi Arabia, he was denied counsel and any real opportunity to present a defense.
Category: Lawyering
A Texas woman, Susan Cammack, has been fined $500 and sentenced to two years of probation for her role in serving bogus court orders on a judge and lawyer involved in a foreclosure case against her. Comic claims to be a representative of the sovereign nation of Texas was convicted of issuing fraudulent court papers ordering a judge and lawyer to appear before an “international common law court.” What is interesting about this case is that Cammack received a two year sentence of probation for serving what were clearly meaningless and ineffectual papers. She was little more menacing than someone speaking to herself on a subway platform. Yet, her punishment is roughly the same as former Ohio prosecutor Jason Phillabaum of Cincinnati who was given no jail time and had his law license suspended for just a year for filing a false indictment in an actual criminal case. As I said earlier, the treatment of Phillabaum was shockingly light in comparison to what non-lawyers face in less serious cases. It is not that Cammack’s sentence was excessive. The question is how we deal with the most serious forms of prosecutorial misconduct.
It looks like we already have an entry for the 2016 Spooky torts listing. Assistant Prosecutor Chris White clearly does not like spiders, even fake ones. That much was clear given his response to finding fake spiders scattered around the West Virginia office for Halloween. White pulled a gun and threatened to shoot the fake spiders, explaining that he is “deathly afraid of spiders.” It appears that his arachnophobia (fear of spiders) was not matched by a hoplophobia (fear of firearms).
A former prosecutor in Ohio, Jason Phillabaum of Cincinnati, has had his law license suspended for a year after pleading guilty to adding a charge to a criminal indictment and then signing the document. Frankly, I am astonished that the Ohio bar considers this misconduct as warranting only a year suspensions as opposed to disbarment. This constituted not only the creation of a false indictment and false filing but the denial of basic constitutional rights and protections in our system. It is hard to image a more serious form of prosecutorial misconduct and yet he will be practicing again in Ohio in a matter of 12 months?
Leslie and I are leaving New Orleans today (I will post a few pictures tomorrow) after a wonderful trip to the Crescent City. Much has changed since I lived here but thankfully the essence has remained the same. We were here to participate in the reunion of the clerks who served with Judge W. Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Judge Davis is approaching his 40th year as a judge and has an intensely loyal clerkship alumni. Indeed, virtually every one of his roughly 100 clerks showed up from around the country to celebrate his service and thank him for mentoring us all as young lawyers. Given the reason for the trip, I wanted to share a couple of lawyer signs that I spotted walking around New Orleans. They left me wistful in thinking about my life had I stayed on the faculty at Tulane Law School or . . . even opened up a firm like this one next to a tattoo shop on Magazine Street (perhaps offering “Torts and Tats” as a package deal).
Alabama Judge Marvin Wiggins is under fire this week after he offered to trade blood donations for judicial fines or fees while threatening those without money or blood donation receipts with arrest. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed an ethics complaint The SPLC obtained audio tapes, including people complaining that they felt forced to give blood by Wiggins.
Continue reading “Alabama Judge Under Fire For Blood-for-Fines Trade”
Massachusetts attorney Karen J. Andrade, 51, may be an example of the over-use of social media. Southampton police say that Andrade had thae standard lawyer links like LinkedIn but also links as “Rose,” a prostitute. Andrade, who was suspended from practice in 2014, is accused of running a escort business out of her home.
Continue reading “Massachusetts Lawyer Accused Of Being Prostitute”
By Darren Smith
One matter that has been for years a hot button issue is how telephone service vendors have entered into contract with prisons and jails in the various states. County jails and state prisons were enticed on the promise of lowering costs to the government agency in exchange for having the liberty to place the burden of the cost onto inmates and those electing to make calls.
Over the years several vendors have clearly taken advantage of the system, and callers who have no other choices if they wish to speak with their attorney, family, or friends.
Now, the FCC is positioned to place restrictions on the tolls charged. A vote is scheduled for October 22nd.
Continue reading “FCC To Rule On Capping Telephone Fees Charged By Outside Vendors To Inmates”
There is an interesting controversy out of New York county where Acting District Attorney, Madeline Singas in Nassau County has prohibited prosecutors from owning a handgun. This is a curious way for an “acting” district attorney to start if she wants to be an actual district attorney since I believe that rule is unconstitutional. Prosecutors like other citizens have a second amendment right to own a gun. [Update: Singas has withdrawn her clearly unconstitutional condition on prosecutors]
We previously discussed the bizarre case of Cook County prosecutor, Sarah Naughton, who was involved in a drunken, swearing, biting incident at a sex shop after a Cubs game. The Illinois Supreme Court has now accepted a consent suspension for Naughton.
The Clinton email scandal continues to get worse by the day with State Department officials directly contradicting the long-standing account given by Hillary Clinton. Clinton has long maintained that she turned over a portion of her emails (those not deleted as “personal”) after receiving a letter that went to her and three of her predecessors: Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice as a routine inquiry. The gist is that there was nothing alarming about her exclusive use of a server under her control rather than the secured State Department system. State Department officials now confirm that the request was specifically related to the discovery that Clinton was using a personal email system as her exclusive means of communication. This revelation occurs the same week that the FBI has announced that it has already retrieved some of the emails and that the Clinton staffers who “wiped” the system did a poor job that left the material easily accessible — deepening the earlier concerns over the presence of what is now confirmed to be classified material on Clinton’s unsecured server. The FBI sources described Clinton’s IT person as “not very good.”
Continue reading “State Department Contradicts Clinton’s Long-Standing Account On E-Mails”
Passaic County Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Portelli (New Jersey) is facing formal judicial conduct charges over what was allegedly “poor judgment and a lack of dignity and respect for his office.” What is interesting is the range of comments, including some that would not have been previously considered a basis for discipline but now raise serious judicial conduct questions. The charges could raise an interesting hearing as subject to different interpretations with Portelli claiming that he is merely salty or familiar in his language while others would call it sexist or intrusive.
Continue reading “New Jersey Judge Faces Judicial Complaint Over Crude and Personal Comments”
There is a tragic but interesting criminal case set for trial in San Francisco involving a tenants rights attorney and a claim of self-defense during a robbery. Eviction Defense Collaborative staff attorney Carlos Argueta, 31, and former intern (and Swiss native who lives in London) Pascal Krummenacher, 21, are charged with murder after they alleged were robbed outside a bar where they were celebrating the end of Krummenacher’s internship. Argueta is accused of stabbing to death James Thomas, 61. There is a videotape in the case reviewed by the Examiner.
Continue reading “Lawyer and Intern Charged With Robbery and Murder After Celebration At Bar”
There is a curious case out of Georgetown, Texas, where Williamson County District Judge Rick Kennon has ruled that Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty intentionally withheld evidence in the murder trial of Crispin Harmel. However, Kennon refused a defense motion to bar a second trial under the double jeopardy clause. There is no indication of any punishment for Ms. Duty for this case. She continues to serve as a lawyer and a prosecutor in Texas. She has however racked up an impressive number of allegations of misconduct and was sent to jail in August for contempt. However, it is odd not to see a direct referral by the court. I can understand the ruling, though the Texas Court of Appeals recently extended double jeopardy protections to a case where prosecutors intentionally forced a mistrial to avoid an acquittal. However, at a minimum, one would expect a court to deal separately with the violation of her core obligations to the court and the bar.
There are some cases that produce truly Earth shaking ironies. The prosecution of Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane is one such case. We previously discussed the case where Kane is accused of leaking grand jury information and lying about it to a grand jury. She is accused of using the leaks to attack her opponents or critics. Her team is now objecting to the damage to her case after a leak that confirmed that bar authorities in Pennsylvania are seeking to suspend her law license. They insist that such leaks are clearly designed to hurt Kane.