murder – Attorney Legal Counsel

Davenport woman gets new attorneys in double murder case

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:39:55 +0000

The Davenport woman accused of taking part in a Jan. 15 double murder has two new attorneys.

Adriana Blake, 27, is now represented by Des Moines-based attorney Christopher Kragnes of Kragnes & Associates. Austin J. Luse will serve as Blake’s second attorney as she faces a pair of first-degree murder charges in the killings of Brian L. Goodwin and Amy M. Smith.

Kragnes and Luse replace attorneys Alex Gilmore and F.M. Brown, who were appointed on March 15.

Blake and her co-defendant, Devon Braet, were slated to face a jury trial starting on Jan. 4, 2025.

Braet, 34, also faces two first-degree murder charges. Blake and Braet were staying with Goodwin in the home he rented at 5210 N. Division St. at the time of the murders.

Blake’s change of attorneys is the latest chapter in the increasingly complicated story of Blake’s requests for changes in the nature of her defense.

A new request

On Sept. 30 Blake sent a one-line letter to the Scott County Clerk of the Court that read:

“To whom it may concern: My name is Adriana Blake and I am writing pro se seeking a motion disqualifying my counsel.”

Days later, Gilmore filed a motion to withdraw as Blake’s counsel. In that motion Gilmore said Blake ” … wants to revoke waiver of speedy trial, withdraw motion to sever, presumably refuse counsel’s intent to file a motion for a change of venue, and various other complaints.”

Gilmore added in the motion that Blake ” … wants a trial sooner than that set for January 4, 2025 and wants it jointly with the co-defendant” against Gilmore’s recommendations.

Along with the appointment of new attorneys, Blake also made a number of requests that, if granted, will change the course of the defense Gilmore outlined in a late July motion.

That motion asked for Blake and Braet to be severed as co-defendants.

‘Acted under duress’

Blake and Braet were arrested together in Davenport on Jan. 18 and were charged with the killings of Goodwin and Smith on Feb. 5. They were arraigned together, but were represented by different attorneys.

Gilmore laid out Blake’s defense against the charges of first-degree murder in the late July motion to sever. He said Blake planned to claim she “acted under duress” during the Jan. 15 murders of Smith and Goodwin.

“The ‘core’ defense of defendant Blake is that she did not fire a weapon, kill anyone, and was effectively coerced, threatened with bodily harm and acted under duress, and Braet’s acts involving the killings were not foreseeable nor agreed to or participated in by defendant Blake.”

During their arraignment for the murders, Davenport police investigator Brandon Askew testified that Blake and Braet drove to a Galesburg hotel sometime after the fire on the morning of Jan. 16. Investigators found cell phones and photos with the two posing with guns and body armor at the hotel.

Askew told the court in one of the videos Blake said, “I shot both of them.”

Gilmore’s motion addresses Askew’s testimony and other statements investigators allege Blake made after being arrested, writing that Blake ” … may specifically claim that she was supplied drugs by Braet, drug-addled” and that statements investigators allege she made were a result of Braet’s “coercion.”

Gilmore also wrote Blake would seek to introduce otherwise inadmissible evidence against Braet, including his criminal history and Blake’s knowledge of Braet’s “history of violence.”

Braet recently was charged with a plot to attack and kill another inmate at the Scott County Jail. Those charges came after he wrote a letter asking to rescind his waiver of speedy trial.

A search for an attorney

The path to Blake’s current legal representation was not an easy one and points to the difficulties courts can face when defendants with extensive witness lists and prior criminal histories need court-appointed attorneys.

After Gilmore and Brown were allowed to withdraw, the court appointed Jeffery Powell to serve as Blake’s attorney. But Powell works for Keegan Tindal & Jaeger, a private firm that represents indigent clients and another attorney had to withdraw from representing Braet months ago.

Powell cited the possible conflict and F.M. Brown was “inadvertently re-appointed” to represent Blake. Brown withdrew and Kragnes was appointed.

Blake was initially represented by the Scott County Public defender’s office and attorney Troy Smith. Gilmore and Brown replaced Smith.

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Michael Cook struck his wife, Charli, with a hammer. Prosecutors say it was murder, but the defense argues there was no intent | Crime

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 02:43:57 +0000

Michael Cook Sr. speaks with his lawyers at the defense table before the start of his murder trial for the 2019 beating of his wife, Charli, in their North Adams home. Five months after the attack, Charli Cook died from complications stemming from those injuries.

The post Michael Cook struck his wife, Charli, with a hammer. Prosecutors say it was murder, but the defense argues there was no intent | Crime appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Attorneys for ex-congressional candidate Dan Rodimer — accused of murder — seek to suppress damaging text messages

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 18:40:14 +0000

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Lawyers for former Republican congressional candidate Dan Rodimer appeared in court Wednesday morning requesting a motion to suppress text messages from his wife that could be used as evidence in the murder case against him.

Rodimer, 45, is facing a charge of open murder in the death of Christoper Tapp, 47, who died on Nov. 5, 2023, as a result of blunt force trauma to his head, documents said.

Former Republican congressional candidate Dan Rodimer, who faces a murder charge, appears in a Las Vegas courtroom on April 10, 2024. (KLAS)

It was initially suspected Tapp died of an “apparent overdose” and “fall” on Oct. 29, according to documents obtained by 8 News Now Investigators. However, after interviews with witnesses, police believe Rodimer attacked Tapp after he allegedly offered Rodimer’s stepdaughter cocaine during a party in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room.

Las Vegas Strip death first reported as a ‘fall.’ Now a former politician is accused of murder

Rodimer’s attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld argued those messages and a wire tap on Rodimer’s phone should be suppressed due to marital privilege. The state has until April 22 to file its opposition to the motion. The judge wants a hearing on that motion on May 8.

Murder suspect Dan Rodimer (left) appears in a Las Vegas courtroom with his lawyers David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld on April 10, 2024. (KLAS)

In the text messages, Sarah Rodimer said, “I watched you nearly murder somebody and I had to take your [expletive] hands off from his neck as he laid there and you ran away and I spent the next two hours trying to take care of him. Nobody should have to watch their husband murder somebody.”

Chesnoff also requested to get more detailed information on Tapp’s prison background.

“Provide us with background information on the gentleman who is the alleged victim here in terms of his propensity for violence and his prison records. We’re entitled to them,” Chesnoff said.

Tapp served two decades in an Idaho prison following a 1988 conviction for murder and rape. In 2019, Tapp was exonerated of the crimes and released from prison after DNA evidence led to a different suspect who confessed.

Wrongly convicted man’s death at Las Vegas Strip resort investigated as homicide

Rodimer, a 2020 Republican candidate for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, and a former professional wrestler, lost to Democratic Rep. Susie Lee.

Rodimer is currently out of jail on a $200,000 bond.

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Jeffrey Ferguson, California judge who’s charged with murder, allegedly texted court staff: “I just shot wife”

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 13:18:17 +0000

Orange County judge arrested in wife’s death

03:38

A Southern California judge accused of killing his wife texted his court clerk and bailiff afterward to say he had shot her, prosecutors said Friday as they charged him with murder and sought new bail conditions.

A court filing from prosecutors says Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson texted: “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.”

Prosecutors also say that 47 weapons and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered during a search of his home, including the pistol used in the shooting. Authorities said the weapons were legally owned. A rifle registered in his name is not accounted for, according to the district attorney‘s office.

Investigators remove firearms from a house in Anaheim, CA on Friday, August 4, 2023. Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson was arrested late Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023 after police received reports of a shooting in an Anaheim home and found the judges wife, Sheryl Ferguson, inside with at least one fatal gunshot wound, police said.

Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

The shooting happened after Ferguson and his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, were arguing at a restaurant on Aug. 3, prosecutors said in their court filing. They continued arguing after returning to their home in the upscale neighborhood of Anaheim Hills.

The criminal complaint alleges he had threatened the victim earlier in the evening “by making a hand gesture indicative of pointing a gun at her,” CBS Los Angeles reported.

The court document says the wife said something to the effect of “why don’t you point a real gun at me?” and he pulled a pistol from his ankle holster and shot her in the chest.

The document says their adult son called 911 and said his father had been drinking too much and shot his mom.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson is seen in a police booking photo released Aug. 4, 2023.

Anaheim Police Department

Jeffrey Ferguson also called 911 to vaguely report the shooting. When asked if he shot his wife, he said he didn’t want to talk about it at that time and she needed paramedics.

When officers arrived, Ferguson smelled of alcohol and told them, “Oh man I can’t believe I did this,” according to the document.

Ferguson, 72, was arrested last week. He was released a day later on $1 million bail and set to be arraigned on Sept. 1.

On Friday, prosecutors charged Ferguson with murder with weapons-related enhancements. They want him to surrender his passport, wear an ankle monitor and possess no alcohol or firearms.

Ferguson’s attorneys, Paul Meyer and John Barnett, issued a brief statement and declined to answer questions. “This is a tragedy for the entire Ferguson family. It was an accident and nothing more,” they said.

Ferguson has been a judge since 2015. He handles criminal cases in the Orange County city of Fullerton.

He started his legal career in the Orange County district attorney‘s office in 1983 and went on to work narcotics cases, for which he won various awards. He served as president of the North Orange County Bar Association from 2012 to 2014.

In 2017, Ferguson was admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance for posting a statement on Facebook about a judicial candidate “with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth of the statement” and for being Facebook friends with attorneys appearing before him in court, according to a copy of the agency’s findings.

Ferguson said on his Facebook page that he grew up in a military family and traveled throughout Asia as a child. He went on to attend college and law school in California. He and his wife were married in 1996.

Sheryl Ferguson previously worked for the Santa Barbara and Orange County probation departments and later for the American Funds Service Company for almost 20 years prior to becoming a full-time mother, CBS Los Angeles reported.

attorney Joel Garson said he got to know Sheryl Ferguson when he was a Boy Scout leader and her son Phillip was in his troop.

“She would come to all of the meetings,” Garson said. “She was very active in his progress in Boy Scouts and even after him making Eagle Scout she would show up at old troop functions. She did T-shirt sales and whatever was asked of her. A lot of parents are drop-off parents and you never see them, but she was very active on the scout committee.”

Jeffrey Ferguson’s attorneys, Paul Meyer and John Barnett, issued a brief statement and declined to answer questions, CBS Los Angeles reported.

“This is a tragedy for the entire Ferguson family. It was an accident and nothing more,” his attorneys said.

More from CBS News

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Calls withheld from defense attorneys in Niagara Falls case

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 11:21:59 +0000

A Niagara Falls man fatally stabbed a little more than three years ago called police for advice twice the day he was killed.

In one of the calls, Kenneth E. Walaszek Jr. said, “I don’t care about spilling the beans because I’m ready to kill them.”

“I am,” he told the call-taker, talking about the occupants of a Packard Court apartment where hours later he would die on the lawn after being stabbed in the chest. “I went there and threatened them and I probably shouldn’t but that’s OK.”

Three people were charged in the slaying, including two who were 17 at the time. One of the teens was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison as an accomplice in Walaszek’s killing.

But that teen’s attorney said Niagara County prosecutors withheld evidence in the case, and that information wasn’t shared with the defense until almost a year after the teen pleaded guilty.

The evidence – recordings of Walaszek’s calls to police – would have made a difference in the case, according to the teen’s defense attorney.

Under state law, recordings of the calls should have been turned over to defense attorneys as part of standard pretrial disclosure of information, a legal process known as “discovery.”

An attorney for the teenager believes the content of the calls provides additional context to existing evidence that shows the teen did not lure Walaszek to his death.

“These calls are evidence that at multiple times he expressed a desire to go over there, and, in fact, made threats of violence against anyone who would stop him,” defense attorney James Quinn Auricchio said.

Niagara County District attorney Brian Seaman said he believes the contents of the calls make no difference to the outcome of the case.

Buffalo News file photo

Niagara County District attorney Brian Seaman said he believes the contents of the calls make no difference to the outcome of the case, since he said he believes the information included in them was already known to the defendants and defense counsel.

This is the latest in a series of cases in which Niagara County prosecutors have been accused of withholding evidence from defense attorneys. Last year, a judge ordered a new trial for a man who spent a decade behind bars for a robbery and attempted robbery after finding the man was “denied a fair trial.” That case included evidence withheld from his defense attorneys before and after trial.

In another case, defense attorneys said prosecutors withheld that an alleged witness to a Niagara Falls homicide was on the phone with a longtime member of Niagara County law enforcement at the time of the slaying.

Prosecutors call it ‘glitch’

Walaszek, 52, was killed Nov. 16, 2020, at the Packard Court apartments on Pine Avenue in Niagara Falls. The trio charged in the case pleaded guilty.

The teen Auricchio represents pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree conspiracy in July 2021. She is serving a prison sentence of 15 years to life. The other teenage defendant, who is male, was sentenced in Niagara County Family Court.

The Buffalo News is withholding the teens’ names due to their ages at the time of the crime.

Auricchio’s client pleaded guilty because she felt moral guilt for the man’s death, he said. The case is being appealed.

Tramaine Sanchez.

Photo courtesy of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office

Tramaine S. Sanchez, who was 24 at the time of the homicide, admitted to the knife attack. She took her own life while being held in the Niagara County Jail in December 2022 before she was scheduled to be sentenced. She was 26.

Sanchez’s estate is suing the county, saying she was sexually assaulted by a jail deputy days before she died by suicide.

The female teen was a domestic violence victim at the time of Walaszek’s killing, said Auricchio, the fourth attorney to represent her. County prosecutors were using an antiquated understanding of domestic violence and how victims of it may behave when evaluating the teen’s actions, he said.

Prosecutors said Walaszek had been concerned for the teen’s welfare. She had been occasionally staying at Sanchez’s apartment.

“There were allegations of different criminal enterprises going on” at Sanchez’s apartment, Seaman said.

Prosecutors should have known early in the case about the existence of the phone calls Walaszek made to police, Auricchio said, because they were referenced in a police detective’s December 2020 testimony before a Niagara County grand jury.

But they never made it into the hands of the teen’s attorney until 11 months after she pleaded guilty.

Under state law, both sides in criminal cases are obligated to share “discoverable” materials with opposing counsel.

Auricchio, who came onto the case after his client pleaded guilty, used the failure to disclose the evidence as part of his effort to get his client’s plea withdrawn. He also used the information in an effort to get her sentence reduced.

Niagara County Youth Court Judge Diane Vitello denied both of those requests.

County Judge John Ottaviano also denied a motion in Sanchez’s case based on the disclosure issue with Walaszek’s phone calls, Seaman said.

The recordings of the calls to police were not identified as missing or requested by any of the teen’s prior defense attorneys, Seaman said.

Seaman said Walaszek’s two calls to the Niagara Falls Police Department’s non-emergency line on the day he was killed would not have been automatically linked to the case file of his killing, like other types of evidence were, including police-worn body-camera footage from the scene.

When agencies compile evidence packages in cases, they aren’t always aware of every possibly related document or recording, Seaman said.

“This was just simply a glitch in the system that is completely understandable,” he said.

Auricchio emailed Assistant District attorney Doreen Hoffman in May 2022 requesting the call recordings, along with other materials. In a court hearing a couple of weeks later, Auricchio brought up the request before the judge. Hoffman told the judge she would request the material from police, according to the transcript.

Prosecutors received the recordings a month later and turned them over to the defense, according to the District attorney’s Office.

Auricchio disputed Seaman’s assertion that the calls included information known by the teen’s prior attorneys. One of the teen’s former attorneys swore to that in an affidavit.

The story that Sanchez and Auricchio’s client initially gave to police was that they were defending themselves and Walaszek was killed in self-defense, but authorities concluded that was a cover story.

The detective’s testimony

In his grand jury testimony, Niagara Falls Police Detective Troy Earp briefly described Walaszek’s calls to the department’s non-emergency line on the day he was stabbed.

Walaszek expressed concern about the teen and was referred to the department’s Narcotics Unit, Earp told the jurors, according to a partial transcript of the testimony included in court documents. The detective testified he wasn’t sure if Walaszek ever made contact with anyone there.

The second call was the same request for help and he was transferred again, with the outcome unknown to Earp.

Earp’s testimony did not include anything about Walaszek saying he had previously gone to the apartment or admitting he threatened people at the apartment.

Auricchio said that wasn’t a complete picture of what was said and that prosecutors had a duty to correct the record before the grand jury.

Seaman said Earp’s testimony was not deceptive “in any way.”

Outside a Niagara Falls apartment

Walaszek was fatally stabbed at 11:41 p.m.

The only phone call that night between the female teen and Walaszek happened three minutes earlier, Auricchio said, citing phone records and surveillance video.

But Walaszek had already been to the apartment that night before the call. The teen couldn’t have lured him there since she hadn’t spoken with him then, Auricchio said.

The Packard Court apartment had surveillance cameras, and the suspects thought they turned all of them off before the killing, though some were still recording, Seaman said.

Separate security video shows Walaszek had been at a Buffalo Avenue bar before he went to the apartment that night, Auricchio said. His blood-alcohol level at the time of his death was 0.16%, according to autopsy results cited in court documents.

Walaszek’s Buick LeSabre first drives past the apartment at 10:35 p.m. About four minutes later, surveillance footage shows him kicking the front door of the apartment and then pulling a Christmas decoration down, according to court documents.

He leaves at 10:42 p.m., which is when Sanchez called police reporting someone just tried breaking in. Police did not respond to the apartment until the stabbing.

Because the suspect in the reported burglary had left the scene, the call did not receive an immediate response, Seaman said.

After calling 911, Sanchez sent a text message to the teen demanding she return a cellphone the teen was using.

By about 10:49 p.m., the teen returned to the apartment with the phone, which was placed on a counter until Sanchez picked it up at 11:33 p.m.

Witnesses told police Walaszek was in the parking lot outside the apartment in the hour before the killing and had followed the teen when she got into another vehicle and left the area. Witnesses also told police Walaszek deliberately rammed that car during that pursuit, damaging the vehicle and causing it to crash.

Surveillance footage also shows Walaszek outside Sanchez’s apartment 10 times between 10:22 and 11:39 p.m. that night, according to Auricchio’s court documents.

The phone records show something else – seven completed calls between the phones of Sanchez and Walaszek that night, according to court documents.

Security video shows Sanchez waving a knife around while speaking to Walaszek on the phone, according to Auricchio.

The only chance for a possible call between the teen and Walaszek is, according to court papers submitted by Auricchio, within a minute of Sanchez picking up a knife at 11:38 p.m., after Walaszek had already been to the apartment.

Auricchio believes Sanchez created a threatening environment at the apartment that night and may have forced the teen to call Walaszek.

A witness who was in the apartment told the grand jury Sanchez was threatening the teen and Walaszek.

Another witness in the apartment testified Sanchez told the teen to call Walaszek “or I’m going to beat” you, according to court papers. It would be her or him, Sanchez allegedly said.

For Auricchio, the withheld evidence pokes a big hole in the prosecution’s theory his client lured Walaszek to the apartment that night.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had a case where I thought I was being, for lack of a better term, professionally gas lit,” Auricchio said. “I just felt this was being minimized and the discrepancies in this case were being minimized to a degree that I’ve never experienced.”

Reach Aaron at abesecker[at]buffnews.com or 716-849-4602.

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Attorneys for 17-year-old Friendswood murder suspect say mental health will be part of defense

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 06:08:33 +0000

FRIENDSWOOD, Texas – The attorneys leading the defense for murder suspect Connor Hilton say that mental health will be a key part of the 17-year-old’s defense.

Hilton faces a murder charge for the Dec. 23 shooting death of Ethan Riley, 18, and aggravated assault in the shooting injury of 20-year-old Ben Bliek.

Bliek remains in a hospital and was listed as being in critical condition.

Friendswood police said Hilton was able to get a hold of his mother’s pistol and opened fire at his house.

Police allege in a charging document that Hilton told investigators he thought about and wanted to commit a homicide for a long time.

Hilton, under an agreement reached by his defense attorneys, prosecutors and District Court Judge Kerry Neves, is out on bond, totaling $1.5 million.

During a Sunday interview, attorneys Adam Brown and J.L. Carpenter said the case will likely hinge on Hilton’s mental health.

“We do feel that this is a case where mental health is going to come into play,” Brown said.

The 17-year-old Friendswood High School student was already in therapy for an undisclosed reason prior to the shooting, Carpenter confirmed.

As conditions of his release, Hilton will be staying with family in Harris County, wear an ankle monitor and will only be allowed to leave the home to visit his therapist.

He can go in the backyard, but he can’t even take the dog out for a walk around the block, Brown noted while stressing the restrictive bond conditions.

“The bond conditions are extremely strict and he checks in every single day,” Brown said.

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Attorneys for 17-year-old Friendswood murder suspect say mental health will be part of defense

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 03:06:33 +0000