Legal News

Georgia On LB?s Mind: Lying Prosecutor; Sarcastic-Faced Lawyer?

By Amir Efrati

The goings-on in Georgia sparked LB’s interest this week, but we’re not talking about Saakashvili’s spiffing up before Veep Biden’s visit. Nope, we’re talking ’bout the Down South Georgia, where the tactics of federal prosecutors are again under the microscope–along with the alleged scowling of at least one defense attorney.

The questions about federal prosecutors comes in the trial of criminal defense lawyer J. Mark Shelnutt, who is facing charges that he collected legal fees derived from his clients’ illegal activities. In a pre-trial hearing last week, U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land said he was “shocked” by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Ferguson’s admission that he had lied to Shelnutt as the two prepared for a 2007 meeting about one of Shelnutt’s clients, according to the Fulton County Daily Report. Ferguson said he told Shelnutt, who was then the target of a federal probe, that he did not intend to record the meeting even though he was secretly was doing so already. Ferguson told the judge that his supervisor at the U.S. attorney’s office in Macon gave him permission to lie to Shelnutt.

The judge said the case could proceed, but the prosecutorial ethics issue will likely feature heavily at Shelnutt’s trial in September, according to FCDR.

We now turn to a different incident in Georgia, this time in county court, which just might teach defense attorneys to Put On a Happy Face.

The action stemmed from an incident in July 2008 in Henry County Juvenile Court when Chief Judge A.J. “Buddy” Welch Jr. ruled against a client of lawyer Ella A. S. Hughes. What happened next is in dispute. According to this FCDR story, Hughes stated she simply bowed her head to write what the judge said.

“No, ma’am. You did not,” Welch replied. “Now you have tested the court’s patience….Take her into custody. I want the record to reflect that the attorney I just had to hold in contempt was not just bowing her head but she was giving sarcastic, unprofessional looks, body action that showed her disgust for the court’s ruling and disrespect for the court in its entirety.”

Off Hughes went to jail. Last week a Georgia Court of Appeals panel overturned the contempt ruling, saying the judge didn’t give the lawyer an opportunity to fight it.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 20, 2009 (boomark / email).