Virginia Killed That Woman

The Commonwealth of Virginia killed Teresa Lewis.  I told you at the beginning of the month that the Commonwealth intended to kill her, and Thursday night she was executed.  Her crimes were heinous, but her execution by Virginia is outrageous.  Please read the original post at the link.

Bad Lawyer Is Being Sentenced for Attempted Tax Evasion

I am off to federal court, where I will be sentenced on my tax crime at noon, today. 

I am grateful to all my friends, family and followers for their prayers and kind messages of support.  Amazingly, I've received letters of support from amazing old and new friends, friends from in the blogosphere and from former colleagues and judges.  But the most powerful connections are those that God placed in my path a long time ago, friends (Steve, Lester, Pat, Sharon, and Irving) who did not abandon me; my family (especially Sharyn, Amy, Liz, Maddy, and Will) that understood the weight and legacy of burdens and confusion that I was not able to overcome.  And of course, Alcohollics Anonymous and OLAP.

Do not do what I did.  My failures were unjustified, completely irrational, and inexcusable.  I say these things not as a consequence of being "caught," because in truth the revelation of my tax offenses are answered prayers.  My secrets made me a very sick person.  Anything I've done right  in the last year has been because I've been relieved of my mental illness manifest in being unable to operate a successful and sane solo practice.

If you have not dealt with your business or tax obligations there is help, in fact the government is more than willing to assist you if you are proactive in seeking assistance.  Do not delay one more day, call for help today--if you live in and around OurTown I can put you in touch with tax and legal professionals that can and will help you.   I beg you, do not ignore the chaos.

When my situation permits I will honestly report on my experiences.  There is much I have not reported about the nuts and bolts of going through this experience--for obvious reasons.  But I intend to tell it all as my situation permits.  Despite my crime, and my admission of guilt I have been treated with dignity and concern for my health and the welfare of my family.  Nonetheless, you do not want to go through what I am going through so I entreat you, take action now.

No, You Can't Attend Church

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has refused to permit a convicted child sex offender to attend church, even in the company of a chaperone.  Here's the Union-Leader story:

"The New Hampshire Supreme Court has denied a sex offender’s request that he be allowed to attend church with a chaperone. Jonathan Perfetto of Manchester was convicted of possessing child pornography and released from prison in 2008.

Though a court ordered him to have no contact with children, he had asked to attend Jehovah’s Witnesses services chaperoned by a church elder.  The state Supreme Court Friday upheld a lower court ruling denying that request. It said the condition does not violate Perfetto’s constitutional rights to religious freedom and that Perfetto can practice his religion in other ways.

Perfetto also served time when he was 17 for molesting a young male relative and again when he was older for assaulting adult women."
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Huh?  Really?  Let's chew on this one.

Madison Wisconsin Drunk Driver 6 Times the Legal Limit

The Madison Wisconsin, Cap Times, reports this AM that a Masdison resident was taken into custody for drunk driving and was found to be 6 times the .08 BAC limit.  Here's reporter Bill Novak's story:

"A Madison man arrested on his alleged felony fifth drunken driving offense early Wednesday morning had a blood alcohol level nearly six times the legal limit of 0.08, Madison police reported.  Clinton Chamberlain, 39, was arrested at about 12:20 a.m. Wednesday after he crashed his vehicle into a concrete construction barrier at the intersection of Beld and Fisher Streets on the south side, police said.

Responding officers determined Chamberlain was 'extremely intoxicated,' with Madison Fire Rescue taking him to an area hospital, the police report said.

'He was admitted to the hospital for observation and will be taken into custody upon his release from the hospital,'  said Lt. Joey Skenandore in the police report.  Police did not provide Chamberlain's exact blood alcohol level."
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This is intoxication at an almost unbelievable level.  This is alcohol poisoning, it almost sounds like a suicide attempt? 

As bad as this is, miracles happen.  A guy like this could recover and someday shed all sorts of light for others trying to recover from alcoholism.  I hear men and women who have survived these sorts of scenarios, again and again--recover and play instrumental roles in the recovery of others.

DEA Agent's Road Rage Incident: Federal Court Judgment

The Kansas City Star reporter Joe Lambe reports on the federal civil trial involving a DEA agent who in a road rage incident went wild on a local man, causing serious physical and neurological injuries. 

"When Barron Bowling wouldn’t let a car pass him from the right seven years ago, it sparked road rage that left him beaten and lying on blistering pavement.  Bowling’s attacker turned out to be federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent Timothy McCue, who was in an unmarked car with two colleagues.

Bowling won $833,250 in federal court Friday for the beating, which left him with severe brain damage and post-traumatic stress.  U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled that Bowling, of Kansas City, Kan., suffered assault, battery and excessive force from 'road rage fueled by egos and unwarranted self-righteousness.'  [Judge] Robinson [also] wrote that Kansas City, Kan[sas]., police management forced Detective Max Seifert into early retirement after he tried to report honestly what happened to Bowling.

[The Judge worte that t]he treatment of Seifert was 'shameful' after he crossed 'the thin blue line,' the judge wrote. Seifert’s findings went against those of the DEA officers, but Wyandotte County prosecutors charged Bowling anyway with causing a traffic accident with the DEA agent’s car.  The Wyandotte County Unified Government also was a defendant in the case but settled last year for $425,000. The government admitted no wrongdoing on claims of malicious prosecution, abuse of process and conspiracy.

A Wyandotte County jury earlier found Bowling not guilty of the felony of intentionally causing the wreck but convicted him of leaving the scene of the accident, for what he contended was driving a short distance so he wouldn’t block traffic.  Attorneys on both sides Monday declined to comment on the case.

Bowling also declined to comment, but his attorney, Cheryl Pilate, said, 'We believe justice was done.'

[Judge] Robinson heard the lawsuit without a jury. She listened to 19 days of testimony.

Among findings in the judge’s 48-page verdict:

The case stemmed from a minor sideswipe crash in Kansas City, Kan., on July 10, 2003.

Bowling, now 36, was driving north on Tenth Street when he noticed a car trying to illegally pass him on the right side. He sped up, but the other car still tried to pass him. The cars bumped, and shortly after both pulled over.

As Bowling got out of his car, McCue rushed toward him with a gun pointed at him. Bowling was shirtless when McCue and another agent forced him stomach down onto the hot pavement. It was 98 degrees outside.

Bowling tried to push himself up with one hand, and McCue hit him several times with his fist and/or with the butt of a gun.

'The court also finds that McCue kicked the plaintiff several times while (Bowling) was fully handcuffed and laying on the ground,' the ruling states.

McCue also called Bowling names like 'inbred hillbilly,' the ruling states. And when he learned from dispatch that Bowling had no prior convictions, McCue called him 'system-dodging white trash.'

The agents with whom McCue was working undercover did not stop him during the attack.

According to the ruling, McCue claimed that Bowling rammed McCue’s car, almost causing McCue's vehicle to hit a utility pole. In McCue’s version, he hit Bowling’s shoulders and neck with an open hand as a way to control him. He admitted that he struck Bowling in the back of his head and on his face, causing a black eye.

McCue also admitted calling Bowling 'white trash'  and other names, according to the ruling.

The judge ruled that she did not believe McCue’s version of the accident. Bowling 'did not intentionally ram McCue’s vehicle,' she wrote. 'Indeed, a jury reached the same conclusion' when it found Bowling not guilty of causing the wreck. She agreed with the jury 'by a very strong preponderance of the evidence.'

The government used McCue’s assertion that Bowling caused the accident and then evaded arrest as justification for how McCue and another agent tried to control him as they arrested him, Robinson ruled.

Seifert, the detective whom the judge praised for honest work that got him 'castigated by his superiors, by the prosecutor, by the DEA,' paid a high price, the ruling states.  [Detective] Seifert was forced into retirement before his retirement benefits were fully vested, the judge said. He was even denied a routine commission that would allow him to work as a security guard."
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The judge get's it right when she correctly points to the egos involved in the incident, injuries, and persecution of the one honest cop.

Good judge!

Meanwhile, Back in Cuyahoga County, Reform?

As I reported on Bad Lawyer, Cuyahoga County, Ohio residents have been so outraged by the corruption of their public officials, they discarded their form of government to get rid of all the crooks in one-fell-swoop. 

It is a truism that often what passes at "reform" turns out to be "less democratic" and often more of a "deform."  Witness, "tort reform," and while I agree that the election of Judges doesn't work out all that well in terms of the lawyers who obtain judgeships as can be seen from the arrest of and implication of numerous Cuyahoga County Judges in their ongoing corruption scandal--election of Judges mean that theoretically, the electors choose their jurists.  By the way, check this Las Vegas Sun article quoting former Associate Justice Sandra O'Connor who has taken up merit selection as her personal cause. But merit selection often means that the elites choose  the Judges--this may or may not be a good thing.  Look how merit selection plays out at "the top," the U.S. Supreme Court--currently, only Ivy League graduates serve on the high court, and only Ivy League law graduates get the coveted clerkships which lead to prominent academic and judicial careers. 

So, Cuyahoga County has "reformed" it's governmental model and the new guys have even taken their seats yet and this morning's Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the democratic and republican candidates for the County "Executive" position have both been implicated in scandals relating to public ethics.  Matt Dolan (pic, right) apparently was dating a lobbyist (who he eventually married) while serving in the Ohio general assembly; and Ed Fitzgerald (a local suburban mayor, lawyer and former FBI agent), aka, "Public Official 14" in a federal indictment (pic, left) was doing business deals with the indicted former Cuyahoga County Commissioner and corruption kingpin, Jimmy Dimora (pic, right below).

As a commentator pointed out the other day, the word "Cuyahoga" in a native American word which means "Crooked" as in the Crooked River.  Apparently a micro-brewery in Cleveland makes a brew called "Croked River" as well as one called "Elliot Ness." 

So the world keeps on turning and as always the more things change, the more it remains the same.

Update:  Dimora, Russo, and Sheriff McFaul crony, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason (pic, left), is reportedly on the verge of resignation and possible federal indictment (reports say within the next 60 days.)  An article at alternative newsweekly, the Scene.com, is the source for the current reports concerning prosecutor Mason.  Mason, has been the subject of several posts, here, on Bad Lawyer over the last year.

Federal charges against Mason would be the final climatic scene in this tragedy for Cuyahoga County. This was the boy who wanted to be president.  Turns out he was just another political hack.  Shame.

DA Kratz is an Ass--Further Complaints, Removal Inevitable, Suspension to Follow?

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, this AM the DA Kratz harassment count is now at 4 women.  Expect District Attorney Kratz to be removed from his public position, and with this sort of situation his eventual suspension is now highly probable. 

I am at a loss as to what these Legal Lotharios think female clients want from them apart from competent and effective representation.

At the following link you can read an extraordinary letter from the Wisconsin Department of Justice concerning the Kratz investigation that went nowhere and the instructions by the DOJ to reopen the investigation.

Sheriff Joe's Documented Spending Practices--Like a Sailor on Shore Leave....

Well, big surprise, Bad Lawyer's favorite Stalinist-Sheriff turns out to have been spending the taxpayer's dollar like a sailor on shore leave; nearly $50 million dollars allocated for jail operations were spent by the Sheriff at his whim--you know things like the grandstanding, xenophobic, demagoguery of immigration sweeps, travel, and paying the salaries of deputies assigned to investigate other office holders.  Here's Yvonne Wingett's AZCentral.com update.  When will Maricopans have enough of this con artist and thief? 

The real outrage is the money, Arapio has spent on Big Law firms to advance legal arguments and prosecute other elected officials--all which have proved to be frivolous and ineffective. 

Maricopans, you get what you pay for.

"Use Creative Writing!"

The Deputy County Attorney who was singularly most instrumental in Sheriff Joe Arpaio is being fired according to the Arizona Republic.  According to reporters Yvonne Wingett and Michael Kieffer Lisa Aubuchon (pic, lwft) received the letter required under Arizona law, preliminary to her discharge as a "merit" employee:

"A controversial prosecutor faces imminent firing after a five-month inquiry into her role in filing criminal charges and a civil suit against judges and county officials on behalf of then-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.   The Arizona Republic has learned Deputy County Attorney Lisa Aubuchon was sent a 'pre-termination letter last week, an initial step in the firing process.

Aubuchon has been on paid administrative leave since April, when Thomas resigned as county attorney to make a failed run for Arizona attorney general.   Interim County Attorney Rick Romley fired two high-ranking prosecutors from Thomas' tenure when he took office. The other prosecutors served at the pleasure of the county attorney. Aubuchon, however, was protected as a 'merit' employee and could be fired only for cause. Romley ordered an internal investigation into her conduct.

Aubuchon has until today to respond to facts stated in the pre-termination letter. The office would not reveal those details.   Aubuchon is entitled to a meeting with top officials within the County Attorney's Office to plead her case. Barring last-minute evidence, she likely will be fired.

Aubuchon has worked in the County Attorney's Office since 1996 and was head of the office's charging division under Thomas. In that capacity, she determined if and when criminal charges would be filed. Aubuchon generally was regarded as the go-to lawyer in the political-corruption cases pursued by Thomas, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arpaio's chief deputy, David Hendershott. All of those cases were dropped or dismissed, and in at least one case, a grand jury refused to hand up indictments and ordered Aubuchon to 'end the inquiry.'

Calls to Aubuchon and her attorney went unanswered Thursday.

In past conversations with The Republic, Aubuchon asserted she had done nothing wrong, saying, 'I would never file anything for a political purpose.'

The County Attorney's Office would not comment on its investigative findings leading to the pre-termination letter, but Aubuchon has been involved in numerous recent legal battles:

• She was the prosecutor who obtained indictments against County Supervisors Mary Rose Wilcox and Don Stapley. The Wilcox case, regarding financial transactions, was thrown out by a judge who ruled that it was politically motivated. One Stapley case, also regarding financial issues, was subsequently dropped. Another was thrown out on technicalities, and during an appeal, a special prosecutor discovered that many of the charges had been filed after the statute of limitations had expired.

Aubuchon also tried to obtain indictments against Superior Court judges and other county employees but was rebuffed by a county grand jury. And, at the request of Thomas and Arpaio, she authored a civil-racketeering lawsuit against county officials, Superior Court judges and private attorneys, alleging a conspiracy to keep Thomas from investigating the supervisors and a $340 million court building under construction. The suit was dropped.

• Along with Arpaio, Thomas and Hendershott, she is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for alleged abuse of power. The State Bar of Arizona also is looking into possible unethical conduct by Aubuchon.
• Last month, The Republic learned that Aubuchon's attorneys in the Bar investigation had hired private investigators to research and follow an out-of-state investigator who was in Arizona conducting the Bar inquiry.
• Aubuchon has filed a $10 million notice of claim against the county, alleging that county officials smeared her reputation and destroyed her career. 

New details about Aubuchon's actions emerged this week in an internal Sheriff's Office memo in which Deputy Chief Frank Munnell asked that Hendershott be placed on leave and investigated for alleged misconduct, mismanagement and criminal activity.

Munnell alleges in the 63-page memo that Aubuchon told sheriff's investigators to use 'creative writing' to write a search warrant allowing them to search the offices of all five members of the county Board of Supervisors.  Investigators were incredulous, Munnell wrote, and one lieutenant pointed to each of his subordinates and said if he  'found out that any one of them used creative writing, or wrote a warrant without the facts, he would fire them.'

Munnell alleged that during that meeting, Aubuchon pulled out a previously written search warrant used for a case against County Supervisor Don Stapley.  The lieutenant countered that the warrant looked like a 'press release and not a valid search warrant.'  Aubuchon's response, alleged Munnell, was, 'Why don't you just do good police work? " Munnell wrote, 'The most shocking moment of that meeting took place when Aubuchon, who is supposed to be an impartial and ethical prosecutor, stated during the meeting, to the effect that if they couldn't get charges on Stapley, that he would be tried in the media.  The result of this contentious meeting was . . . the sheriff's personnel present in the meeting refused to author a warrant to search the offices of all the members of the Board of Supervisors,' Munnell wrote.

Munnell's memo also confirmed previous reports that Hendershott in April tried to create a position within the Sheriff's Office for Aubuchon."
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There are almost always public prosecutors like Aubuchon.  Lawyers who use their license as cudgels to achieve ends regardless of the means.  I think of he California prosecutor Benjamin Thomas Field who received a 5 year license suspension for comparable conduct.  Young lawyers and young judges can have too much power, it can poison egos and pervert justice.

When a lawyer is blessed to have a position of public trust, the power to convene grand juries, obtain warrants, and have citizens arrested and jailed, it's good to exercise these powers with wisdom; otherwise find another line of work.  Creative writing?

Freedom to Post "Crap"

Staff writer,  Peter Mucha at Philly.com is reporting on the local man who filed a lawsuit over a township ordinance on vulgarity.  Essentially, the David Kliss was protesting a Township sewer assessment and ran headlong into the Township's ban on "vulgar" language.

"A homeowner has filed suit against a Central Pennsylvania town for making him remove the word crap from two protest signs he posted in mid July.

They read: '$10,000 TO TAKE A CRAP.'

David Kliss of East Hanover Township displayed them because he was upset that a mandated sewer tie-in would cost him thousands of dollars, according to the suit, filed with the U.S. District Court in Scranton.

About a week later, the township's code-enforcement agency notified Kliss, who lives at 436 Pheasant Rd., that he was violating a zoning ordinance that 'No Loud, Vulgar, Indecent or Obscene Advertising matter shall be displayed in any manner.'  He also was warned the signs were illegally attached to trees on right-of-way property, and informed that he needed a zoning permit.  Kliss complied by attaching the signs to stakes on his lawn and covering the offending word with white paint.

He resisted the urge to use a synonym, such as dump, leaving the signs to read, '$10,000 TO TAKE A.'

Clearly, he didn't do so happily.

The suit contends that the ordinance fails to define vulgar, indecent and obscene, that the signs had no graphic images, and that the township was denying Kliss his constitutional rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, petitioning the government and due process.  Besides, the word crap just isn't that offensive, said Kliss' Kennett Square attorney, Aaron Martin.

'In my brief, I used an episode of Seinfeld from 1993, in which the word crap was used four times in 15 seconds, to demonstrate that our society does not view that word as unspeakable,' he said.  (The episode is 'The Old Man,' and Kramer and Newman are the utterers.)

'What's happened is that the township has used the obsenity ordinance to squelch political speech,'  Martin said.  Besides lifting the vocabulary restriction, the suit asks for unspecified damages and recovery of legal fees and other costs.

East Hanover Township is in Dauphin County, about a dozen miles east of Harrisburg.  'I don't think we're going to have any comment,' said township solicitor Scott Wyland, an attorney with Hawke McKeon & Sniscak in Harrisburg. 'The matter is under review.'"
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Mr. Kliss has a winner with this lawsuit. 

East Hanover Township might want to look at the U.S. Constitution and possibly get a memorandum of law before enacting ordinances like this one on "vulgarity."  The ordinance is purely prior restraints on speech.  The township needs to move quickly and resolve this lawsuit if it wishes to cut their exposure for court costs and Mr. Kliss' attorneys' fees.