Ron Plunkett Update--Guilty in Drug Death

Bad Lawyer previously relayed the sordid tale of Ann Arbor, former prosecutor and defense attorney Ron Plunkett's who's life descended into druggy hell.  Reporter Lee Higgins for AnnArbor.com is reports that Plunkett (pic) entered a guilty plea to charges relating to the provision of drugs that resulted in the death of his girl friend's girl friend in his bedroom:

"A former [Ann Arbor] defense attorney accused of paying for and transporting the heroin that caused the death of an Ypsilanti woman in 2006 pleaded guilty today to drug charges. Ronald James Plunkett, 53, pleaded guilty this afternoon in Washtenaw County Circuit Court to delivery of less than 50 grams of cocaine and maintaining a drug house.

He admitted to giving someone cocaine at his Fuller Court apartment on June 16, 2006 - the day 22-year-old Tiffany Gregory collapsed there and died after consuming a combination of alcohol, cocaine and heroin. Gregory was a medic in the Army National Guard and was scheduled to deploy to Iraq later that year.

'That day I allowed three people to come there and use drugs at [my] house,' Plunkett told Judge Melinda Morris.

Plunkett also admitted he allowed people to use drugs at his home before and after that date. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, charges of delivery of heroin causing death and delivery of less than 50 grams of heroin will be dismissed.

Tracy Corson, 25, of Howell, who was Plunkett's girlfriend [according to the Michigan Supreme Court opinion reinstating his drug charges, a Livonia prostitute] at the time of the death, already served two years in prison in the case after pleading guilty to delivery of a controlled substance causing death.  Plunkett's case has been delayed numerous times due to legal challenges over the relatively new law allowing prosecutors to charge people with providing drugs that caused a death.

The Washtenaw County circuit judge and state appellate judges that reviewed the case determined there was not enough probable cause for Plunkett to stand trial. But the state Supreme Court reinstated felony drug delivery charges and refused to reconsider that decision earlier this year.

Plunkett faces a maximum of 23 months in prison[.]"

Ann Arbor Author--Shot Her Father In the Ass, Going to Jail

Back in November I told you about the case of Lisa Reardon (pic), an Ann Arbor crime novelist who showed up her parents' house and opened fire on her father, George Hicks, as he hightailed it through the kitchen in an effort to avoid hot lead. 

The original news reports of the attack reported that Ms. Reardon's beloved cat, Godfrey, died;  and, there was speculation that this may have represented the last important "anchor" to her then,  domesticity. 

A little research turned up her author's web page with titles and plot summaries that suggested a backgound steeped in alcoholism, child abuse, self-mutilation and other childhood horrors. 

So no surprise that Ms. Reardon's pre-sentence investigation is replete with references to her being a victim of child molestation by the piece of shit that she blasted. Lisa Reardon entered a plea of guilty to two counts of atttempte murder and if I understand the news account at AnnArbor.com she will do 4-6 years.  Good luck to Ms. Reardon.  I hope she finds some peace.

Michigan State's Thong Thief Thwarted

Oh, this is too easy. 

The Detroit News reports under the headline:  Cops: MSU thong thief caught with 79 pairs of pilfered panties,--on the 19 year old East Lansing student who has been suted stealing panties from the dormitory laundry. 

The unnamed spandex obsessive denies being a "sex addict." or having an addiction.  Sounds about right.  He claims it was just a prank and that other students "are doing it."  The owner of the items in question wants the suspect charged.

All joking aside, there are serious issues.  If this kid had been stealing t-shirts we would not think there was a sex element to the petty theft.  So it's absurd to think that this 19 year old kid doens't have some sort of screw slightly loose--he's lucky that at age 19, he has a jump start at looking at his fetish for female undergarments.  Jeez, it's not easy to write about this without it coming off as a joke.  So let me shift gears.

Last week, 20 year old Laura Hall (pic) became the first "woman" in the UK to be banned from every bar and pub, according to the London Daily Mail!  Twenty years old! 

In May of 1986, I was 31 years old and I had blasted through as much drinking as I was capable of doing and still be able to and physically manage to pull myself together and practice law.  I got sober, because frankly I could no longer bear the physical and psychological burden of drinking like a pig.  And while it is true that I relapsed on two or three occasions since then, for all my problems I could be dead, and behind the wheel of a car drunk I could have killed others--and, those are some of the more obvious bad shit/outcomes that happen to drunks and those that happen across their paths.

So you see when I talk about these Bad Lawyers and Judges with substance abuse issues I am talking about and seeing myself in their horrible outcomes.  St. Paul, Minn. Al Garcia, that could have been me.  Ann Arbor's Ron Plunkett, taht could have been me.  For all of my problems-- killing someone, raping someone, crippling someone--that has not happened to me, yet. My guess is that in the lives of these youngsters--oh, and these stories get played out in the media as jokes, these young people are getting a chance to see something misfiring in their lives early on.  They have  an opportunity in these "silly" crises, early on,  to avoid a lifetime of disaster piled on disaster. 

The Mercy Killer

When Lisa Reardon's beloved cat Godfrey died, she drove over to her parent's house and put a bullet in her Dad, hitting him in the ass instead of a more vital organ according to Ann Arbor.com.


While authorities are not saying why the 48 year old "redneck noir" crime novelist wanted to kill her father, the plot summaries for her three published books at her "home page" are suggestive:

The Mercy Killers: 1968, McGurk's Tap Room in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Death, drugs, war, child abuse, and plenty of laughs.

Blameless: Lack of accountability leads to a dead child, adultery, alcoholism, nervous breakdowns and insomnia.  

Billy Dead:  Realistic portrayal of family life, murder, abuse, incest, and self-mutilation.

Defense counsel may have some material to work with based on the material at Ms. Reardon's website, but I suspect that in her case writer's block may have carried with it a more dangerous dimension.  More at:  http://www.lisareardon.com/  and http://www.annarbor.com/news/crime-novelist-accused-of-shooting-father-in-butt-ordered-to-stand-trial/

Dead 22 Year Old Girl, and the Attorney

Tiffany Gregory, took drugs and died.  She collapsed in the bedroom of the apartment of Ann Arbor Assistant City attorney Ron Plunkett.  Plunkett's girlfriend, Tracy Corson had supplied  some of the drugs that comprised the "lethal combination of cocaine, heroin and alcohol" that killed Tiffany Gregory.  Miss Corson has just completed a 2 year prison term for her role in supplying the drugs that killed Miss Gregory.

Attorney Plunkett was a US Army Reserve medic who was scheduled to to be deployed to Iraq later in the year.  His admitted addiction to crack cocaine has cost him his license to practice law, for now, perhaps permanently depending on the outcome of the criminal case that he Michigan Supreme Court greenlighted this week.  The Michigan Supremes held 4-3, that Plunkett can be prosecuted as an aider and abetter for supplying the money and transportation used to obtain the drugs that killed the young woman who dropped dead in his bedroom.

At the link you can read the local account of Mr. Plunkett's woes. 

Wedsnesday night I was talking about my own set of woes and how the Universe continues to put my personal problems and defects of character in my path--I suspect that I am obligated to make some important changes in the way I approach my life and career.  By the grace of God, I don't have a 22 year old dead girl on my conscience (lots of other stuff, though) but I certaily can find many other commonalities between Mr. Plunkett and myself.  Deadly arrogance comes to mind.