If you’re curious why lawyers get such a bad rap, just read a little further about the latest shenanigans spun by the defense team representing admitted Aurora theater shooter James Holmes.
Last week, Arapahoe County prosecutors complained to Judge Carlos Samour that Holmes’ defenders were trying to influence witnesses and survivors of the horrific July 20, 2012, theater massacre. Defenders had hired what the lawyer industry calls “Defense Initiated Victim Outreach” workers. These things are what you and I would call “shysters” and “con artists.”
That’s exactly what they are. Although this disingenuous bull-crap isn’t new, it’s increasingly popular in capital court cases, and now it’s stinking up the place in Aurora. The trend started during the trial for Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh. History and the Internet have given McVeigh defenders the benefit of the doubt in explaining the origins of the stunts. There were so many victims and so much tragedy, that defenders hired their own person to meet with victims to see what, if anything, could be done. It’s debatable whether the hundreds of survivors and families of the murdered benefited by the maneuver. But the notion has steadily become the darling of lawyers who represent murderers or others who have infused acute chaos into the lives of innocents.
In this “everybody’s-got-to-have-one” world, Holmes defenders got them one and unleashed this “victim advocate” into the lives of 70 or so people wounded by Holmes during his attack, and the endless bevy of witnesses associated with the massacre.
The prosecutor in the trial, District Attorney George Brauchler, protests the sham. So do I. That surprises even me because I haven’t agreed with much else he’s done in the case. Holmes’ lawyers almost immediately agreed their client was responsible for the unfathomable attack, and they offered to make a deal if Holmes could die of old age in jail instead of middle age by lethal injection decades from now.
No dice. So it’s the death penalty or nothing. Brauchler is a gambling man. I’m not. I also think killing anyone, even monsters like Holmes, is about as barbaric as humans can get.
But with this latest defense stunt, Brauchler and I are on the same page. It reeks of guile. Defense lawyers here and across the country say these so-called DIVOs provide a vital part of “restorative justice.” Proponents of this ridiculousness say that “ … crime, especially murder, creates an involuntary relationship between the victim and the defendant.”
Blink. Blink. Blink. Do you think so? We can agree on that. What we don’t agree on is that defense lawyers hiring these so-called outreach workers ultimately want to help victims and witnesses. It’s obvious defense lawyers want to keep their clients from being snuffed on a gurney in the death chamber. And if they’re good at what they do, lawyers will do anything to prevent their client’s date with death. The Holmes team, like so many other capital defense teams, have hired consultants who are experts in manipulating trials. They advise lawyers on what color suits to wear, how to make eye contact, tone of voice, hair styles, anything and everything that can help tip the scales of justice in their favor.
This is no different. In fact, it’s even more insidious. By having Holmes reach out to witnesses via some nice outreach worker, “concerned” about their wellbeing and willing to share “inside” information about Holmes, his family and his crimes, lawyers build subtle but very real alliances. Without this stunt, a witness might appear blatantly caustic or adversarial on the stand, something that influences jurors. But if that same witness is frank, almost apologetic about their testimony? How might that affect a jury? The defense needs only one juror to agree with the defense that Holmes was legally insane at the time of the murderers to get a not-guilty verdict.
That’s what this farcical DIVO industry is about, and that’s why Holmes’ lawyers brought this on, at taxpayer expense. I want Holmes to go to prison forever as much as anyone, and I want Colorado to end its expensive and useless death penalty. But not like this. The sole mission of a defense lawyer should be to serve the interests of a client. No doubt, that’s what’s going on here. This is treachery, and Judge Samour needs to put an end to it now.
Reach editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com
Interesting point of reference with McVeigh. He was supposed to have been incarcerated, in jail, when he committed the OKC disaster.
It is because the Dr.’s are causing it in the patients on purpose.
There are Dr.’s who are working here right now fronting in mental health clinics and on campuses in the US, who are CIA operatives. I got prepositioned by 2 of them. Their names are Gloria Jing-Lon Tong and David A. Tomb and they are currently working out of Salt Lake City, Utah. They were trying to traffic children. We were told we needed to learn to think outside the box. Said they were working to advance medicine. Would take care of us for the rest of our lives if we’d have a baby and hand it over to them. David writes books on medical & drug research for NIH. They were trying to get us to fly to Hong Kong to do this. Somebody please hear me! After it came out through a mandated reporter my kids dad was drugged to oblivion by another Dr. and was made violent and to go insane. I had my head gashed open and he was thrown in jail. Formal complaints were made, and repeatedly brushed under the rug— investigation opened
and “We want to pursue these people, but we don’t have enough hard evidence.” I promise you,,, from what I have learned through them, while this was going on, there is a lie like no other, and it is running the whole show up front while they are sneaking people out the back door for the real work—-
Hi Julie , thanks for your reply.
Yes there is activity as you described occurring in society, Possibly the work of foreign nationals that have infiltrated US industry and Government.
Social networking provides opportunity for exploits to occur. I personally try to keep as low of a profile as possible. It may help to be vigilant with your on line presence, such as using a pen name that does not identify you personally, and regularly keep your browsers and computers clean of cookies and caches. In your situation I would seek to advise with an attorney and, establish contacts with local law enforcement. It might also help to contact your states attorney general, your congress person and senators.in person if possible and exercise every option you deem appropriate of patient rights.
You need help. I suggest you get it.
Samour and the prosecution don’t understand and/or don’t care about the mental health aspect of this trial. Nor do you ( as you call this very sick and delusional man a “monster,” for instance). The actual act he committed in the theater was heinous, that stands without a doubt and there’s no argument there, but if you’ve studied mental health (as I have), and you’ve studied James Holmes’s past enough, you’d know that this was a kind, shy guy with friends who was altruistic and did nice things for others, and who never would have hurt people while in his right frame of mind. But sadly, his brain broke on him- big time. Everyone conveniently seems to forget that James sought help when he started feeling that something was wrong in his mind and he was totally failed by his university. I’d bet my life that James is severely mentally ill and absolutely did not know right from wrong at the time of the crime. Do some research on it and you’ll see. Holmes’ lawyers, after consulting with Holmes’ psych team and the doctor who evaluated him and found him insane at Pueblo (because why else would the prosecution fight the psych eval and ask for another one?), realize that he’s really sick and in need of help. And, because they are also smart enough to know that the “average Joe or Jane” doesn’t understand mental health either, they are trying to help James and save his life however they can. I can’t blame them.
Clear cut case of ignored mental illness. James did everything in his power to avoid the situation but the doctors failed.
I agree. Fenton, without a doubt, should have put him on a 72-hour mental health hold. This all could have been avoided. Not only did he express homicidal ideation in session, but later he was sending her threatening text messages and e-mails. She only went half-way for him and reported him to campus cops. When they falsely assumed that he had already dropped out (actually, his paperwork had not been finalized and he was/is technically still a student there), they completely washed their hands of him. Horrible. I hope the victims and their families decide to sue the bejesus out of that school, and I hope James gets NGRI and goes to a hospital where he belongs to finally get proper help.
This is why going for the death penalty is stupid. A colossal waste of money. This trial would be over now if a grandstanding DA had gone for life without parole.
It has been reported that Lynn Fenton never even met James. The trial is a sham, meaning a total fake, and James is innocent. Consider the fact that James is to be understood as presumed innocent until a jury or judge finds him guilty, but his own attorneys have already declared him guilty before the trial. This is grounds for dismissal right there, but the world is so ignorant of legal procedure and our court system that they just looked the other way when this and other incidents proving innocence are totally disregarded in this case. Someone could walk up to the Arapahowe DA and say in truth and the facts being verifiable, “Hey man, I was with James all evening, and I have evidence of it”, and the DA and James’ own worthless defense team would just look the other way and pretend they didn’t hear a thing. They are railroading an innocent man to the death penalty. Please look at the facts instead of knee jerking the presumption of guilt here. The facts on the ground prove that James is innocent. Case in point: Cinemark had security alarms on the doors and state of the art security cameras in its theaters, but they are claiming to be a fly by night cheapo business cutting corners on security. This is a big fat lie. Susan