We have two cases of lawyers encountering former clients in their homes in stories this week. In one case, Chicago retired attorney Carl Kuhn, 82, was allegedly killed by his former client Terry Bratcher, 43, and another man, Keith Allen, 21. In South Carolina, attorney and state senator R.C. Soles Jr. shot former client Thomas Kyle Blackburn, 22, in his home.
Continue reading “Client Calls: Former Client Shoots Lawyer in Chicago While Lawyer Shoots Former Client in North Carolina”
Category: Lawyering
The former Pennsylvania judges charged in the “kids for cash” corruption scandal — Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan — have withdrawn their guilty pleas and demanded a trial. They took the step after Senior U.S. District Judge Edward M. Kosik refused to accept their plea agreement with prosecutors in light of their failure to take responsibility for their actions.
Continue reading “Judges in “Kids for Cash” Scandal Drop Pleas and Demand Trial”
The Justice Department appears close to re-opening nearly a dozen prisoner abuse cases that were all but buried by the Bush Administration. The move comes after a recommendation of the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The Obama Administration, however, is still blocking any investigation into war crimes and the torture program. I discussed the appointment of Mr. Durham in <a href="“>this segment of Countdown.
Continue reading “Report: Justice Department To Re-Open Nearly a Dozen Prisoner-Abuse Cases”
Stamford Marriott Hotel and Spa has allowed its attorneys to aggressively pursue a mother of two children who was pulled into her van and raped in front of her children in a Marriott hotel. Marriott now asserts that the 40-year-old mother was responsible in the attack, failed to “mitigate their damages,” and has sought discovery from friends and neighbors. The move led to a predictable backlash among the public.
Continue reading “Marriott Blames Mother Raped in One of Its Garages in Tort Lawsuit”
Criminal defense attorney and television commentator Robert Simels, 62, has been convicted in Brooklyn of plotting to kill witnesses. Also convicted was attorney Arienne Irving, 31, who was convicted of witness tampering. The jury only acquitted Simels on one count dealing with false statements after deliberating for seven days.
Continue reading “Two New York Criminal Defense Attorneys Convicted of Witness Tampering”
We have been following questionable uses of tasers by police. This video from 2004 raises some disturbing questions where a former BYU professor Tom Lowery is tasered in court during a rambling argument. It is clear that the use of the force, in my view, was unnecessary and improper — particularly in a court of law.
Continue reading “Shock Video: BYU Professor Tasered in Court”
Lawyers often joke to clients that it was not like they ran over a group of girl scouts. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal partner Paul Glad made that common joke a reality when he ran over a group of mothers and children selling Girl Scout cookies in Burlingame, California. A prosecutor has announced that he will not be criminally charged. The managing partner of the San Francisco was taking the painkiller OxyContin under a doctor-proscribed regime, but insists that he was not impaired.
In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered an evidentiary hearing on innocence claims of Troy Davis, who is on death row in Georgia for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail. Not only did the Supreme Court stop the execution, but it created new law on the right of the defendant to present such evidence — a holding that drew the outrage of the conservative wing of the Court. While only a paragraph long, the unsigned opinion represents the first such order in decades for a new hearing to “receive testimony and make findings of fact”. Justice Scalia called it a “fool’s errand.”
Continue reading “Supreme Court Stays Execution and Says Evidence of Innocence Should Be Given Evidentiary Hearing”
Texas Judge Tom Head is under fire this week after he posted the pictures of nine people wearing Obama shirts. Seven of the nine men were black and the pictures were accompanied by material critical of Obama supports and suggesting that Republican voters are rarely arrested.
Continue reading “Head Case: Texas Judge Posted Pictures of Criminals with Obama Shirts”
Sacramento divorce attorney Gary Appelblatt, 58, has pleaded no contest to four counts of sexual battery and one additional count of attempted sexual contact. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gary E. Ransom will now sentence Appelblatt, who is looking at likely jail time for a bizarre series of assaults on clients.
Continue reading “California Divorce Lawyer Pleads No Contest to Sexual Battery of Clients”
Charles Circuit Court Judge Robert C. Nalley has been accused of letting the air out of a car of a part-time cleaning woman who works at the courthouse. Two officers from the county jail insist that they saw the judge let the air out of a 2004 Toyota Corolla that was parked outside of the La Plata courthouse at 3:45 pm in the afternoon. One claims to have a picture of the act.
Continue reading “Driven to Extremes: Maryland Judge Accused of Flattening Tire of Woman in Courthouse Parking Lot”
Criminal defense attorney Ivan J. Bates has filed a $13 million lawsuit against the Baltimore Sun after articles suggested that he engaged in witness tampering and invoked the fifth amendment to avoid incriminating himself in wrongdoing. The Sun is standing by the reporting of journalists Melissa Harris and Julie Bykowicz.
Continue reading “Lawyer Files $13 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Baltimore Sun”
Today, the Geneva Conventions turned 60. Like many people “of a certain age,” the Geneva Conventions can be forgiven for feeling a bit marginalized and forgotten. The Obama Administration is about to finish the work of the Bush Administration in gutting the enforceability of the Conventions by blocking any investigation or prosecution of American officials who violated the conventions, including the well-documented torture program.
Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak obviously does not like yawning in the courtroom. He sentenced Clifton Williams to six months in jail after he let out a loud yawn when his cousin was being sentenced on a felony drug charge. The cousin actually received probation.
Continue reading “Illinois Judge Sentences Man to Six Months in Jail for Yawning Loudly in Court”
While some may have expected attorney David Aufhauser to be seen in the halls of Williams & Connolly as a client but it appears that he has now been embraced as a partner. It appears that involvement in an insider trading scandal is not a barrier to career advancement. The former general counsel and managing director for UBS has joined the firm after agreeing not to practice law for two years due to the alleged insider trading. In the meantime, the shunning of Alberto Gonzales by both law firms and former colleagues continues.
Continue reading “Williams and Connolly Hires Disgraced UBS General Counsel”