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Monday Morning Massacre in Covington County D.A. Office- The Fallout

Covington County District Attorney Greg Gambril. Photo Credit: New York Times, (Fair use applies)

Hushed conversations in the halls at the Covington County Courthouse this morning.  Dismay, concern, disbelief on the part of some while the rest are ordering popcorn to watch the big train wreck.  The Andalusia Star News story outlines the D.A.’s firings of investigator Brett Holmes and secretary Brandy Smith along with the firing of the prosecutor with the most seniority in the D.A.’s office, Grace Jeter.  Meanwhile WAKA, channel 8 out of Montgomery has this on their website:

From the CBS 8 South Alabama Newsroom – Three employees at the Covington Co. District Attorney’s office have been fired.

District Attorney Greg Gambril tells CBS 8 News he’s dismissed an assistant district attorney, an investigator and an administrative assistant. Gambril says the three firings are unrelated but general personnel issues are the reason behind them.

“They were reasons that were a long time in coming. The timing was right and I did what I felt was in the best interest of the future of the district attorney’s office and for the taxpayers of Covington County,” he said Tuesday.

Gambril says the assistant D.A. position will not be replaced due to lack of federal funding. He says the other two positions will be filled — he hopes by the end of September.

The most interesting debate is in the comment section to the Andalusia Star News.  To quote Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse, “Wow! That’s just about all I can say, wow!”

A Guilty Plea in the Sherrie Phillips Saga

From the Andalusia Star News and al.com, Evergreen attorney John Brock entered a plea of guilty to third degree perjury for his role.  Here (John Brock plea documents) is the plea paperwork.  Although I don’t agree with what he did, I don’t see how Attorney Brock can be guilty of perjury under Section 13A-10-103 because a requirement of perjury is that the person be under oath.  If all he did was file paperwork, he shouldn’t have had to file an affidavit or any other type of oath.  However, since this is a misdemeanor plea, his lawyer might just be taking the best deal available.  Also, a felony plea or conviction would likely be an automatic loss of law license so perhaps this is the smartest move for him under the circumstances.  Since stuff disappears from the al.com website pretty often, here is Connie Baggett’s story from al.com:

Evergreen judge pleads guilty to perjury; accused of mishandling $3.2 million estate

EVERGREEN — Municipal Judge John Brock could lose his law license after he pleaded guilty to perjury Thursday in connection with the mishandling of a $3.2 million estate case.

“A complaint will go before our disciplinary board,” said Tony McLain, general counsel for the Alabama State Bar Association. “If this is deemed a serious crime, the attorney (Brock) could face suspension or disbarment.”

McLain said the board typically finds any crime involving dishonesty or misrepresentation a “serious crime,” and the stiffest punishment would likely result.

Brock, 62, runs a private practice in Evergreen and also serves as the city’s municipal court judge. Brock pleaded guilty to third-degree perjury for knowingly filing misleading documents in the estate of a Conecuh County man.

The state attorney general’s office handled the prosecution, and retired Monroe County District Judge William Causey presided in the case. Causey was appointed when local judges stepped aside, including District Judge Jeff Brock, a nephew of the accused.

John Brock was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine, court costs and $500 to the Alabama Crime Victims Fund. He also received six months in jail, although that portion of the sentence was suspended.

The misdemeanor guilty plea stems from a tangled estate case that also led to the conviction of former Covington County Probate Judge Sherrie Phillips, 58, in November.

Evergreen Mayor Larry Fluker could not be reached for comment Friday, nor could John Brock or Phillips.

According to court records, Cary Douglas Piper, 52, of Castleberry died in January 2007, leaving an estate worth $3.2 million.

His friend, Mary Drew Sullivan, also of Castleberry, hired John Brock to act as her attorney in an effort to be named the administrator of Piper’s estate.

Sullivan said that Piper had no known relatives.

According to court records, Brock had Sullivan move accounts to Region’s Bank in Andalusia and then filed a petition to be named the estate’s administrator by Phillips, a longtime friend of Brock’s.

Agents from the attorney general’s office filed charges against Phillips in June 2008, charging the probate judge with taking $1.8 million from the estate and opening a bank account in her own name.

Agents said she spent more than a half million dollars of the money paying off personal debts, buying cars, remodeling her home and loaning money to relatives.

She also took a $405,000 fee for administrative costs that the courts ruled was “egregious and impermissible.”

Brock took a similar fee. Both have repaid the money as ordered by the courts.

The scheme unraveled months ago, when six first cousins of Piper’s came forward, inquiring about his estate.

Phillips was convicted of theft in November and sentenced to 10 years in prison. She remains free on bail during appeal, but the conviction was affirmed by the Alabama Supreme Court in July.

Sullivan filed a civil lawsuit against Brock and Phillips in June.

Claudette in Town, but Concerned about Ana

Claudette is in town this Monday morning on her way to Tuscaloosa and North West Alabama.  No big deal, Jim Cantore is not here to forecast our doom so we will likely survive.  Meanwhile, here is the 5 day tracking on Ana and I am not liking the look of her. Besides, I am going to trial next week and hoping this thing stays weak.

Moving Mattresses in Montgomery

Got these photos via e-mail this morning!  I love the Darwin Award-like effort made by these young men.

Here is the text that came with the e-mail:

What If you have some mattresses that you need to move and you don’t have a pickup truck or a van, why not use your car?

Of course, if you were going to do that, you would want to exercise caution and safety for the motoring public around you as you are traveling to your destination.

The very least that you could do is take some rope and tie the mattresses down to the top of the car and secure them in a snug and tight manner before you leave out of your drive.  What if you only have your car and you don’t have any kind of rope around?

Why not place the mattresses on top of your car and then get two guys to lay on top of the mattresses to hold them down as you proceed out of the drive and down the street?

Just be really careful and don’t exceed the speed limits and also make sure you are going very slow when you turn from one street onto another.

Never mind that all of this is against the law, but what the heck, when you need some mattresses to sleep on tonight.

I just knew no one would believe this when I told them, so, I took some pictures for show and tell.

Pictures taken on Gilmer Ave. in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday, July 15, 2009.

“How do you know the witness?” “He shot me.”

Ah, voir dire.  Nothing else like it.  From the Panama City News Herald (hat tip to JuryImpact):

Prosecutor Greg Wilson was asking if anyone on the panel knew Lionel Crawford when a woman raised her hand. He’d gone through a list of potential witnesses and wanted to know if familiarity with a witness would bias a juror for or against their testimony.

“How do you know Mr. Crawford?” Wilson asked.

“He shot me in 2004,” the woman replied.

“He shot you?” Wilson asked. After a long pause, he said, “Would it be safe to say you’d have a problem judging his credibility in this case?”

Sotomayor: favors insurance industry

My good friend John Jones (a great lawyer and all-around good fella) ruined my day with this article from the Insurance Journal.

Given her lengthy time on the bench, including on the District Court and Court of Appeals, Sotomayor has a long list of insurance coverage cases on her resume, Maniloff explained. “But what I discovered in the course of looking at Judge Sotomayor’s overall body of opinions on coverage issues was far more interesting than any one case. Judge Sotomayor has been very, very insurer-friendly during her time on the bench.”

Now this is just one guy saying Judge Sotomayor is “very insured-friendly” but then I recall Judge Sotomayor was first appointed to the Federal Bench by then President George W. Bush.  Following the advice of his lawsuit hating presidential brain Karl Rove, I doubt President Bush would have appointed a plaintiff friendly Federal Judge.

UPDATE:

Now I am concerned.  According to Politico.com, The United States Chamber of Commerce, that “consumer friendly” entity, has endorsed Judge Sotomayor.

U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving

Now why the heck would they do that?  From the New York Times, this really chafes me raw:

the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, decided not to make public hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the use of phones by drivers — in part, officials say, because of concerns about angering Congress.

Other info:

Research shows that motorists talking on a phone are four times as likely to crash as other drivers, and are as likely to cause an accident as someone with a .08 blood alcohol content.

I have always said cellphone drivers were as dangerous as drunks.  Who knew I’d ever be right about anything?

Reliving My Childhood

Forty years ago today I made sure to come home from the Southlawn pool to see Apollo 11 land on the moon.  Sitting on the floor in front of the T.V., I watched history.  At http://www.wechoosethemoon.org I get to do it all over again.  (I wore the above patch on my denim jacket for years and still have it in a box at the house.)

“O wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beautious mankind is!

O brave new world,

That has such people in’t!”

The Tempest, Act V, Scene I:

Senate Confirmation Hearings on Judge Sotomayor: I Miss Howell Heflin!

On the eve of the Sotomayor hearings, here is a blast from the past: Howell Heflin’s statement to Antonin Scalia during his confirmation hearing in 1999:

STATEMENT OF SENATOR HOWELL T. HEFLIN

Senator HEFLIN. Judge Scalia, I believe that almost every Senator that has an Italian-American connection has come forward to welcome you to this or to participate in this hearing thus far.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that my great
great grandfather [laughter] married a widow [laughter] who was
married first to an Italian American. [Laughter.]

The CHAIRMAN. Let us get quiet.

Judge SCALIA. Senator, I have been to Alabama several times too.
[Laughter.]

Senator HEFLIN. So, Judge Scalia, it is with pride that I welcome
you on behalf of the 4,022 Italian Americans in Alabama and the
other 4 million people to this hearing. I also am delighted to welcome your wife and your nine children.

Looking at the number of your children, it appears that you have
had much experience in working with groups of nine. However,
nine is enough, at least for the U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
If confirmed, I hope your experience, family and otherwise, will
help you to build a consensus when justice requires it, and to resolve the minor disputes which may arise on the Court.

Great stuff.   But here is the part applicable today.

In my examination of a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, I
am in agreement with the opinion of the late Senator John McClellan of Arkansas. He stated that: “there is room on the U.S. Supreme Court for liberals and conservatives, for Democrats and Republicans, of Northerners and Southerners, of Westerners and Easterners, of blacks and whites, and men and women— these and other factors should neither qualify nor disqualify a nominee.”

To live under the American Constitution is the greatest personal privilege which was ever accorded any member of the human race.  Therefore, I believe that the men and women to whom we entrust the care of our Constitution should be chosen with great care. In my opinion, only a handful of men and women are both qualified and capable of wearing the weighty robe of a Supreme Court Justice.