The Chicago Tribune on Sam Adams, Jr., Blago's Mouthpiece's Closing Argument

The Chicago Tribune's Sam Kass has a wonderful account of the closing argument by the colorful Sam Adams, Jr. who was featured on Bad Lawyer and who we promised would deliver an old time trial lawyering. 

There are other accounts of this memorable day in US District Court in Chicago, but this is the best account that I've seen.  Click on the first link to read the colorful original from someone who was there.

Golf Outing Drunkeness Yields Illinois Bar Complaint

The Legal Profession "blawg" features the Bar Complaint against the Illinois lawyer (pic, for amusement only) who after a game a golf and multiple alcoholic beverages got behind the wheel of his car, headed home, hit a bicyclist causing serious injuries, dragged the bicyclist down the road, drove off the pavement, and then left the scene of the accident.  Mike Frisch at the LP summarizes the tale of DUI woe as follows:

A recent complaint filed by the Illinois Administrator alleges ethical violations based on the following facts:

On May 28, 2008, while playing golf near Portage, Michigan, Respondent consumed four beers and four shots of bourbon.

Respondent entered his automobile after leaving the golf course property, and entered South 11th Street in Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan, a public roadway.

Shortly after Respondent entered South 11th Street, his automobile struck Jared Sweet ("Sweet"), who was riding a bicycle along the road. Respondent's automobile knocked Sweet to the ground and dragged him several yards, inflicting upon him a compound bone fracture and skin abrasions.

After striking and dragging Sweet, Respondent's automobile left the roadway and entered an adjoining field. Respondent then reversed back onto the roadway, told a bystander that someone had been hurt 'back up the road,' and drove away from the scene. Prior to leaving the scene of his collision with Sweet, Respondent did not identify himself or offer to render assistance to Sweet. Respondent was arrested later that day. The complaint further alleges that the attorney pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was ordered to pay restitution to the victim."
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Years ago the practice area that I was most active in had an annual Golf Outing at a Country Club in a more rural area of the OurTown region.  To get to this location you had to negotiate curvy rural roads and every year, there was some car or another that went off the road on the way home.  The next day the regular practitioners would check in with one another to share laughs over drunken debacles of our close associates.

We were pretty clueless.

Lance Update--The WSJ Analysis

The Wall Street Journal has a thorough look at Lance's legal peril.  The analysis by Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O'Connell sets out the underlying story, the issues, the witnesses, the history and the implications.  This is by far the best discussion of what's in the cards for Lance Armstrong arising out of the Floyd Landis pre-Tour disclosures. 

Prison Justice

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting on the San Quentin murder of a newly-arrived inmate who was convicted of murder in teh DUI death of a 9 year old girl and her father.  This is reporter Henry K. Lee's chilling account:

"A newly arrived [inmate] at San Quentin State Prison [. . . ]convicted of murder and drunken driving in the death of a 9-year-old Novato girl was fatally stabbed by another inmate, authorities said today.  Edward John Schaefer (pic, right), 44, was stabbed in the chest and neck at about 10:35 a.m. Monday in the prison's reception center yard and died that night, said Lt. Sam Robinson, prison spokesman.

The suspect is Frank Anthony Souza (pic, left), 31, a convicted murderer from San Jose, Robinson said. Souza had fashioned a homemade weapon, authorities said.

Schaefer was killed just 10 days after he arrived at San Quentin. The prison's reception center is where all convicted murderers in California are processed before they are transferred to other prisons.  Schaefer was sentenced July 13 to 24 years to life in prison for second-degree murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for killing Melody Osheroff, 9, and critically wounding her father, Aaron Osheroff in May 2009. Schaefer was under the influence when he slammed his motorcycle into the victims as they were in a crosswalk.

Judge Terrence Boren of Marin County Superior Court sentenced Schaefer a day after Melody would have turned 11.Schaefer had previously served a four-year sentence for corporal injury to a spouse. 

Souza was convicted in Santa Clara County Superior Court of first-degree murder for fatally strangling and beating John Carl Riggins, 59, who was homeless, in an alley near Lincoln Avenue in San Jose in August 2007. The two men had gotten into a confrontation after Souza stole Riggins' mountain bike, authorities said.

Souza arrived at San Quentin in January to begin serving a sentence of 60 years to life, Robinson said. Souza had served three stints in prison for grand theft, receiving stolen property and threatening a prosecution witness with force and violence."
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This story reminds me of the plot of the Fritz Lang movie, M. 

Do Not Vote For My Dad For Judge!

The Huffington Post and probably by now, a dozen or more websites feature the story of the judicial candidacy of Oklahoma attorney, John Mantooth (pic) which is being actively opposed by his own daughter that features advertising, a website and a facebook page opposed to his candidacy.

This is from the Huffington Post account:
"An Oklahoma judicial candidate is fending off a political attack from his daughter, who has taken out a local newspaper ad urging voters: 'Do not vote for my dad!'

McClain County judicial hopeful John Mantooth's daughter and son-in-law paid for the quarter-page advertisement, which features a picture of the daughter's family, highlights cases in which Mantooth has been sued and lists a website the couple started, . http://www.donotvoteformydad.com/

Mantooth said the bad blood stems from his 1981 divorce from his daughter's mother.  'This is a family issue which should have been kept private,'  he said Monday. 'I'm very sad about this. I'm very disappointed. I'm hurt, but I love my daughter, and I want things to get better, and I hope they will.'

Jan Schill, 31, said she never has had a good relationship with her father and doesn't think he'd make a good judge.

'We just felt like it would be bad if he were to become a judge,' Schill said in a telephone interview from her home in Durango, Colo. 'I assumed that he would not appreciate it, but he's made so many people mad, I'm just another mark on his board of people's he's had a beef with.'

Keith Gaddie, a professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma, said such campaigning illustrates that 'none of us wants our lives too closely examined. It's reality show politics,' Gaddie said. 'It's unsavory. It's undignified, and it's real.'

But Mantooth also suspects political maneuvering. He said his son-in-law, Andrew Schill, was once law partners with one of his opponents in Tuesday's primary, Greg Dixon.  'That's a very strange set of circumstances,' Mantooth said. 'For a person to believe that Greg Dixon had nothing to do with this is like trying to believe that cows give chocolate milk.'

Andrew Schill said he and Dixon were law partners for about three years, but that the partnership was dissolved after Schill and his family moved to Colorado in 2007. He said he and his wife are responsible for the ad and that there was no coordination with Dixon.  'We put that stuff out there,' Andrew Schill said. 'We want people to look at this record and his cases. I think people can look at that and draw their own conclusions.'

Dixon also said he had nothing to do with the ad or website.
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Talk about some unresolved family issues.

BJs for the Sheriff--More Bad Sheriff Day

Courthouse News Service is report on the Texas Sheriff, Bill Keating (pic) who solicited sexual favors from female inmates and the  wives of men in trouble with the law.  This is Dan McCue's report:

"The former sheriff of Montague County (near Wichita Falls, Tx) used his position to demand 'blow jobs' and other sexual favors from female inmates and other women whose relatives or husbands were entangled with the law, three alleged victims claim in Federal Court.  The women say the county failed to stop or prevent former Sheriff Bill Keating from 'coercing, intimidating, and threatening' women who relied on him to deliver justice.

Two of the three alleged victims, Lashana Dykes and Dawnita Knight, say they were repeatedly targeted for sexual assault and harassment by Keating. The third plaintiff, Shelley Lemon, says Keating made several inappropriate sexual propositions after he let her severely disabled husband off on a probation violation.

Keating allegedly visited Lemon's home after a warrant was issued for her husband, who had recently suffered two severe strokes that left him 'confused' and 'child-like.' Lemon says she offered Keating a cup of tea, which he declined, stating, 'what I really need is a good piece of ass.' He then 'demanded that Lemon 'owed him a favor' in return for his efforts in getting the warrant lifted and explicitly stated that he thought he was entitled to a 'blow job,' the lawsuit states.

Lemon says she 'put him off' that day, but later enlisted the help of police investigators after Keating kept calling to try to 'arrange a sexual encounter.'  Investigators allegedly asked her to wear a wire during her next meeting with Keating. Suspicious, the sheriff cooled his advances, but asked a community 'snitch' -- a local drug addict whom he allegedly paid for sex -- whether she thought Lemon could be trusted, according to the complaint. Lemon says she moved to Waco, Texas, because she feared for her life after Keating found out that she had been talking to police.

Dykes claims that within hours of her arrest, Keating drove her to a remote area in his patrol car and asked for oral sex. When she declined, he began rubbing her breast and between her legs, the lawsuit claims. When she continued to resist, he allegedly offered her cigarettes, marijuana and meth, which she also turned down.

She says Keating called her into his office about a month later. He allegedly handcuffed her when she arrived, telling her that 'today is your lucky day.' He then 'bent Dykes over his desk then pulled down her pants and told Dykes that they were going to do some 'role playing,' the lawsuit states.

'Keating pull (sic) down his own pants and tried to rape Dykes in his office,' the complaint states. But his plans were foiled when a jailer knocked on the door, she claims. 

Knight says her severe depression made her 'easy prey' for the sheriff. Although she resisted his overt sexual advances, she says she was repeatedly taken to his office to give him massages and watch porn on his office computer while she sat on his lap. Knight said she was twice required to have sex with a male jail trustee and was constantly reminded of her jailers' power over her. She was ultimately transferred to another jail by state officials.

The three women have sued Montague County for alleged civil rights violations.  They say the county is liable for failing to properly train and supervise its employees, allowing the sexual victimization of inmates by jail staff, fostering and encouraging such abuse, and failing to redress the situation."
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Consider the vulnerability of these women, and the incredible power of the Sheriff.   When one inmate makes an allegation, . . . you know what I mean.  When three make the claim with the sort of detail you have here, I think you might have something.

The Orange County, California Sheriff Says This Lady Punched Herself In the Face

Yeah, that's right, the nice lady in the pic, with the black eye that is suing the Orange County Sheriff's department claiming they used excessive force according to the Orange County Register, they are claiming she punched herself in the face sustaining the injury.  This is reporter Teri Sforza's account:

"Might the county’s defense be summarized as, 'The lady gave herself a black eye, and you can’t sue us anyway, and everything regarding our officers’ history of troublesome behavior must be kept from the jury?'


The wheels of justice do grind.

We’ve been telling you about the lawsuit involving an Old English sheep dog, a woman named Toy (who suffered a nasty black eye), and Orange County Sheriff’s deputies (including one who was arrested for DUI after two crashes within a half-hour). Even though the federal judge handling the case seemed to give the county the kiss of death — 'a reasonable jury could conclude that the defendant officers used excessive force' – the case is proceeding to trial[.]

[The Cirty of]Mission Viejo paid $24,000 to make this suit go away, mind you, but the county is fight, fight, fighting on. The final pretrial conference is set for July 29, and the trial is set to begin Aug. 24, according to a proposed order (read it here: pretrial conference order). We’ve asked the county to provide the billing totals for the law firm handling this case, and we’ll alert you when they arrive.

[Orange] County’s planned defense for excessive force charges in the Toy/sheep dog case?

That its deputies have 'qualified immunity' because they 'acted reasonably, in good faith, without malice and within the scope of their duties as sworn peace officers.' That 'a public employee is not liable for injury caused by his instituting or prosecuting any judicial or administrative proceeding within the scope of his employment, even if he acts maliciously and without probable cause.'

And that 'any injury sustained by plaintiffs were self-inflicted.'

Hmmmm.Both sides are asking the judge to exclude stuff that might make them look bad. White’s lawyer doesn’t want the county mentioning that Toy White is currently unemployed; the county doesn’t want White’s lawyer mentioning the troubled history of some of the deputies, particularly former double-crash Deputy/suspected drug dealer Allan Waters. (The county settled another case involving former Deputy Waters for $32,000. And Waters is no longer a deputy; shortly after he turned in his uniform, he was arrested for DUI and on suspicion of being a drug dealer who traded fake drugs and cash in exchange for real prescription drugs.)

So what’s the fuss about?

Toy White’s Old English sheepdog nipped a trespasser on her Mission Viejo property in July 2007. Soon four OC sheriff’s deputies and a Mission Viejo animal control officer arrived at White’s home, demanding that the dog be surrendered for quarantine. White’s husband asked if there were any other options for quarantine besides seizing the dog; White asked if the officers had a search warrant; when they said no, White proceeded to try to close her front door. What happened next depends on which side of the door you were on:

White maintains that the animal control officer stuck his foot into the door stop her from closing it, one of the sheriff’s deputies shouted,  'She’s resisting,' [BL:  Hmmmm, where have we heard that before?"] and then three deputies collectively stormed White, slamming her head and left side into the limestone flooring.

The county maintains that White pushed the animal control officer in the upper torso, and that the deputies rushed in to 'prevent her from further assaulting' the animal control officer. White was combative and struggled with the deputies, who then restrained her and arrested her for obstructing a peace officer. She was later charged with assault and battery on a police officer, though criminal charges were dismissed.
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I have a feeling we will be covering a number of Bad Sheriff stories in the next day or so . . .

I remember looking far worse in a booking photo as a result of my "resisting" and "non-cooperation" with Sheriff McFoul's pepper-spraying deputies--aremd as I was with a briefcase and raincoat.

Hot Cleveland Steamer--McFaul Blames Clevelanders and the Media for Being a Crook

Former sheriff Gerald McFaul sentenced to house arrest

The sound in this video may be a little muffled, but what McFauls says is: "And that paper [the Plain Dealer  and] this town. It ruined my health, and my wife's health and my kids and family. And I am sorry."  He adds that if he had known how illegal and unethical his behavior was he "might not" have continued to be a crook and do the illegal and unethical acts that got him prosecuted.  Decades of bribery, theft, nepotism, cronyism and McFaul gets a year of house arrest and three years of probation. 

Oh by the way, McFaul has leftover campaign funds sufficient to cover his penalties although it's doubtful whether he can directly draw on these sums to pay his fine.  Cleveland-area colleagues tell me McFaul is set in terms of his pesnion-situation, also thanks to the taxpayers.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff McFaul, House Arrest

Long time Cuyahoga County Sheriff, Gerald McFaul (pic, center) was sentenced to a year of house arrest by a visiting Judge in Cleveland, Ohio yesterday, after admitting to the court that he is a crook and thief. 

McFaul who ran an old-style patronage and bribery business out of his county office in Cleveland, Ohio is the middle guy in the courtroom photo. His son stands to one side and Vice-President Joe Biden's pal, John Climaco, is on McFaul's right in the pic above.  McFaul, a former pipe fitter and Cleveland Councilman held an annual clam bake and birthday bash where bundles of cash were passed to him in thick envelopes.  His employees were forced to sell clam bake tickets even the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. McFaul was also a drunk and a sexual harasser.  He got away with it.  Because electoral politics in this old rust belt city was a name game he had life tenure. 

McFaul and his ilk represented the easier softer way into a lucrative law enforcement career:  know him, be related to him, be married to someone related to him, be related to another county official.  Cuyahoga County, like Cook County, Illinois, Wayne County, Michigan, and Maricopa County, AZ--has been going through an unwinding from the former era of corrupt politicians interested in enriching themselves and their pals.  Goodbye Sheriff McFaul.

At the link you will find Plain Dealer reporter Mark Puente's story and a list of the Plain Dealer's coverage of this unbelievable "law enforcement" career.  There's one further point that deserves to be made--the Plain Dealer coverage over the last 8 years or more is directly contributory to the reform of Cuyahoga County government.  But this estimable investigative coverage of current scandals in county government was preceded by decades of unquestioning, ignorant, and enabling jounalist malpractice by publishers and editors invested in the status quo.

Drunk Driving, Murder 2

The Charlotte Observer is reporting on the second degree murder charges against a Gaston, NC driver who killed a 17 year old local girl resulting in his 4th DWI arrest.  This is the Observer by reporters David Perlmutt and Steve Lyttle: 

"A Gaston County man was charged this afternoon with second-degree murder after a Jeep Cherokee he was driving Sunday night slammed into a car and killed a 17-year-old girl who had recently graduated from North Gaston High. Authorities arrested Howard Pasour (mugshot left), 28, of Bessemer City, this afternoon and charged him with second-degree murder, habitual DWI, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to inflict serious injury and three counts of death by vehicle, said a spokeswoman with the Gaston County Sheriff's Department.

Pasour, who has three prior DWI convictions and an array of other arrests, is being held in the Gaston County Jail.

Shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, he was behind the wheel of a Jeep Cherokee, traveling about 60 mph, when the SUV crossed the center line and collided head-on with an 1984 Oldsmobile driven by 19-year-old Victoria Elizabeth Iffergan, the N.C. Highway Patrol said this morning.  The brunt of the impact was on the Oldsmobile's passenger side, instantly killing Laura Elizabeth Fortenberry, 17, who had graduated from North Gaston High in June. She was pronounced dead at the scene, Patrol First Sgt. Tracy Greene said this morning. Iffergan and a back-seat passenger, 17-year-old Evan Griffith, were air-lifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Iffergan, Greene said, underwent surgery Sunday night. The condition of the two teens isn't known at this time.

Pasour was treated and released, and was at his father's home in Bessemer City this morning, Greene said Pasour's father reported to the highway patrol. So far, the patrol has charged Pasour with DWI -- his fourth since 2002 -- possession of open alcohol containers, driving with a revoked license and reckless driving. N.C. court records show that Pasour has been charged with offenses dating back to 2002, including three DWI convictions, all in Gaston County, and other traffic charges, drug charges, larceny and shoplifting.

Greene said he and Sgt. J.A. Brodhage plan to meet with District Attorney Locke Bell today to discuss additional more severe charges, including death by vehicle, manslaughter or second-degree murder charges. 'We'll present the evidence; we have put together a good package,' Greene said.  Pasour, he said, wasn't given a Intoxilyzer exam because he'd been taken to a hospital. 'Blood was taken and it has been sent to the state lab,' he said. It could take months for blood-alcohol results to be returned.

Open 'alcohol containers' were found the Cherokee, Greene said."
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Yeah, you don't want to hear me preach but there is a terrible, cosmic and paradoxical message about the power of alcoholism in this fatality.  Thank God, this young woman was not your daughter or mine.