Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Jailed Lawyer Seeks Help

A southwest Missouri lawyer is asking the state Supreme Court to intervene after he was sentenced to 120 days in jail for writing in a court document that a judge and prosecutors were potentially abusing their power.

A Douglas County jury convicted Carl Smith, 62, of Ava, of criminal contempt in August. He was sentenced Sept. 28 to 120 days in jail. He cannot appeal the sentence because the case was prosecuted under common law, as opposed to statutory law.

Smith's attorney has asked the Missouri Supreme Court to intervene, saying that while Smith's arguments may have been better expressed, the punishment is excessive.

"The key thing here is what is the appropriate sanction when an attorney overstates or inartfully drafts an argument," attorney Bruce Galloway said. "My position is that the First Amendment right of free speech would prevent the use of a criminal sanction for an attorney who oversteps in his pleadings."

Full Article and Source:
Jailed Lawyer Seeks Help From Missouri High Court

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is interesting. He was sentenced to jail for saying that the judge and prosecutors were potentially abusing their power - that's a bad reflection on the judge who gave the sentence.

jerri said...

whistleblower lawyer? where are the protections afforded others who blow the whistle? and in my opinion the judge's actions supports and confirms what the lawyer was saying about abuse of power bad move judge result is clearly an over reaction

Anonymous said...

RE anonymous' comment:
There is much more to the story than the AP article. I would encourage anyone that truly has an interest in this to obtain the 2oo plus page pleading that Smith submitted to the Supreme Court that got him in this mess.

Betty said...

Anon 2, you're probably right. Media articles are usually a glimpse of the real story.

Are you suggesting the sentence was appropriate?

Mike said...

Anon 2, Even if there is much more to the story (and I don't doubt you), still the lawyer should be able to accuse the judge and prosecutors of abusing their power.

An accusation has to be proven, of course.

But, isn't it a freedom of speech right to make an accusation?

Anonymous said...

This smells a lot like what's going on in Luzerne County, PA.

Anonymous said...

There are good lawyers out there and the bad ones are always trying to stamp out the good ones.

I don't know yet what to think about Carl Smith. But, thus far, he's looking like a good guy.

See how it's all locked up against him? He can't appeal the sentence because of the technicality. Almost sounds like guardianship court.

Kit said...

I think Carl Smith had a lot of guts to stand up and say what he was thinking, probably knowing there would be retaliation.

GoodLawyer-BadLawyer? said...

Only the good guys - lawyer whistleblowers - get busted!

There is a HUGE national conspiracy by the Organized Bar to stop all whistleblowers. Their self-pollicing discipline mechanisms, are totally self-serving!