trial and procedure – Attorney Legal Counsel

Ben Brody-Elon Musk lawsuit: Conspiracy theorists accused Jewish man of being a neo-Nazi and then Musk got involved

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 06:36:24 +0000

CNN
—

Ben Brody says his life was going fine. He had just finished college, stayed out of trouble, and was prepping for law school. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Elon Musk used his considerable social media clout to amplify an online mob’s misguided rants accusing the 22-year-old from California of being an undercover agent in a neo-Nazi group.

The claim, Brody told CNN, was as bizarre as it was baseless.

But the fact he bore a vague resemblance to a person allegedly in the group, that he was Jewish, and, that he once stated in a college fraternity profile posted online that he aspired to one day work for the government, was more than enough information for internet trolls to falsely conclude Brody was an undercover government agent (a “Fed”) planted inside the neo-Nazi group to make them look bad.

For Brody, the fallout was immediate. Overnight, he became a central character in a story spun by people seeking to deny and downplay the actions of hate groups in the United States today.

The lies and taunts, which Musk engaged with on social media, turned his life upside down, Brody said. At one point, he said, he and his mother had to flee their home for fear of being attacked.

Now, he’s fighting back.

Brody filed a defamation lawsuit last month against Musk, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter. The suit seeks damages in excess of $1 million. Brody says he wants the billionaire to apologize and retract the false claims about him.

Brody’s lawyer—who is the same attorney who successfully sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre —said he hopes the suit will force one of the world’s richest and most powerful men to reckon with his careless and harmful online behavior.

“This case strikes at the heart of something that I think is going really wrong in this country,” attorney Mark Bankston said in an interview with CNN. “How powerful people, very influential people, are being far too reckless about the things they say about private people, people just trying to go about their lives who’ve done nothing to cause this attention.”

Asked for comment on the lawsuit, an attorney for Musk told CNN “we expect this case to be dismissed.” Musk’s lawyers have until Jan 5, 2024, to file their response in court.

On the night of Saturday, June 24, 2023, Ben Brody was in Riverside, California.

About 1,000 miles away, a gay pride event was being held near Portland, Oregon. In recent years, the city has become a flashpoint for often violent clashes over the country’s ongoing culture wars.

It was no great surprise then that the event became a target for rival far-right groups and neo-Nazis who began fighting among themselves while protesting. Video of the skirmish, where the far-right protesters pushed and pulled at each other, quickly spread across social media.

Online conspiracy theorists soon jumped into the fray.

Rather than accept the fact that two far-right groups who have previously embraced violence were responsible for the clash, online trolls insisted it must be a so-called “false flag” event – a set-up of some kind to make the neo-Nazis look bad.

That’s when they found Ben Brody.

The day after the Pride event, Brody began getting text messages from his friends telling him to check out social media.

“You’re being accused of being a neo-Nazi fed,” he recalled some of his friends telling him.

Somehow, someone on social media had found a photo of Brody online and decided he looked like one of the people involved in the clash.

Anonymous people online, self-appointed internet detectives, began digging and found out Brody was Jewish and had been a political science major at the University of California, Riverside. On his college fraternity’s webpage, he had once stated he wanted to work for the government.

“I put that I wanted to work for the government. And that’s just because I didn’t know specifically what part of the government I wanted to work for. You know, I was like, I could be a lawyer,” Brody recalled in an interview with CNN.

His being Jewish was relevant to them because conspiracy theories are often steeped in antisemitism – suggesting there’s a Jewish plan to control the world.

Brody’s social media inboxes filled up with messages, such as “Fed,” “Nazi,” and “We got you.” He and his mom were forced to leave their family home after their address was posted online, he said.

Some of Brody’s friends began posting online, trying to correct the record and explain this was a case of mistaken identity. Brody himself posted a video to Instagram where he desperately tried to prove his innocence. He even went as far as getting time-stamped video surveillance footage showing him in a restaurant in Riverside, California, at the time of the brawl in Oregon, as proof he could not have been at the rally.

But to no avail. The conspiracy theory kept spreading across the internet, including on X. But it wasn’t just anonymous trolls fueling the lie. Musk, the platform’s owner, had joined in, amplifying the lie to his millions of followers.

Video from the Oregon event showed the masks of at least one protester being removed during the fight between the opposing far-right groups. Musk asked on X on June 25, “Who were the unmasked individuals?”

Another X user linked to a tweet alleging Brody was one of the unmasked individuals. The tweet highlighted a line from Brody’s fraternity profile that noted he wanted to work for the government after graduation.

The tweet claimed the unmasked alleged member of the far-right group was Brody, pointing out he was a “political science student at a liberal school on a career path towards the feds.”

“Very odd,” Musk responded.

Another user shared the tweet alleging Brody’s involvement and commented, “Remember when they called us conspiracy theorists for saying the feds were planting fake Nazis at rallies?”

“Always remove their masks,” Musk replied.

On June 27, having engaged with conspiracy theories about the subject over a number of days, Musk alleged that the Oregon skirmish was a false flag. “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation,” he tweeted.

“I knew that this was snowballing, but once Elon Musk commented, I was like, ‘boom, that’s the final nail in the coffin,’” Brody recalled.

Musk has more followers than anyone else on X – approximately 150 million at the end of June, around the time he tweeted about the fight in Oregon, according to records from the Internet Archive. That tweet has been viewed more than 1.2 million times, according to X’s own data.

Brody worried his name would forever be associated with neo-Nazism, that he wouldn’t be able to get a job. Though he had finished college, he hadn’t yet graduated, and he said some of the accounts messaging him were threatening to contact his university. “My life is ruined,” he thought.

Attempting to clear his name, he gave an interview to Vice.com, which caught the attention of Mark Bankston.

Bankston is best known as the lawyer who successfully took on the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in court on behalf of parents who lost their children in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Bankston said Brody’s case is not only an opportunity to help clear the young man’s name but could also force what he views as a necessary conversation about the vitriolic nature of online discourse.

The lawsuit filed last month in Travis County, Texas (the same county in which Bankston successfully sued Jones), alleges Musk’s claims about Brody are part of a “serial pattern of slander” by the billionaire.

Musk, the suit argues, is “perhaps the most influential of all influencers, and his endorsement of the accusation against Ben galvanized other social media influencers and users to continue their attacks and harassment, as well as post accusations against Ben that will remain online forever.”

Soon after he took over Twitter in 2022, Musk said the platform must “become by far the most accurate source of information about the world.”

But, on the contrary, the suit alleges, “Musk has been personally using the platform to spread false statements on a consistent basis while propping up and amplifying the most reprehensible elements of conspiracy-addled Twitter.”

The suit outlines how Musk has engaged with accounts that traffic in racism and antisemitism and lists instances in which he publicly shared or engaged with conspiracy theories – including last October when he shared false claims about the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The suit alleges that in August after Musk was made aware through his lawyers about Brody’s case for defamation, Musk refused to delete his tweets.

Bankston and his client said the lawsuit is about a lot more than money.

“I just want to make things right,” Brody told CNN. “It’s not about vengeance. I’m not angry. It’s not resentment. I just want to make things right, to get an apology, so that this doesn’t happen again to anyone else.”

Source link

Attorneys and law firms can elevate their online presence with professionally written content from SEO Content Writing Services monthly plan. Our team of experienced writers specializes in crafting blog posts, articles, and written content that accurately reflect the expertise and knowledge of our clients in the legal field. With a keen eye for detail and a thorough understanding of legal terminology, we provide high-quality writing that helps our clients stand out from their competition and engage with their target audience. Trust SEO Content Writing Services for one time article writing or monthly written content to handle all of your written content needs and showcase your law firm's expertise.
If you need written content, blog posts, or articles professionally written for your website, we can help. Go HERE to find out more.
or email us here: myseowritingservices@gmail.com
To find out more about our article writing or blog post services, fill out the form, thank you.

The post Ben Brody-Elon Musk lawsuit: Conspiracy theorists accused Jewish man of being a neo-Nazi and then Musk got involved appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Defense attorneys for 2 former Aurora officers standing trial for involvement in 2019 death of Elijah McClain rest their cases without calling any witnesses

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 02:54:06 +0000

CNN
—

Defense attorneys for two police officers in Aurora, Colorado, facing charges in the death of Elijah McClain during a 2019 arrest opted to rest their case in court Friday without calling any witnesses.

Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt have pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault causing serious bodily injury in connection with the 23-year-old’s death. Rosenblatt was fired by the Aurora Police Department in 2020 and Roedema remains suspended.

The case stems back to August 24, 2019, when officers responded to a call about a “suspicious person” wearing a ski mask, according to an indictment. The officers confronted McClain, a massage therapist, musician and animal lover, who was walking home from a convenience store carrying a plastic bag with iced tea.

In a disturbing interaction captured on body-camera footage, police wrestled McClain to the ground and placed him in a carotid hold, and paramedics later injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead three days later.

In 2021, a grand jury indicted three police officers and two paramedics – Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec – involved in the McClain case. They face 32 counts in total, including reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault. All five have pleaded not guilty.

They will be tried in three separate cases, with the trial of the third officer, Nathan Woodyard, scheduled to begin on Monday. Closing arguments in the trial for Roedema and Rosenblatt are scheduled for Tuesday morning. The paramedics will face a joint trial over their involvement in November.

Prosecutors in the wrongful death trial rested their case Friday morning after more than two weeks of testimony, setting the stage for the defense to begin its case, which was expected to continue for up to a week.

Roedema’s attorney had previously indicated he planned to call a police use of force expert as his witness, but both defense teams decided to close their cases Friday afternoon after Judge Mark Warner denied their motion to acquit both men. Roedema and Rosenblatt declined to testify on their own behalf, and neither defense team called a witness.

The trial for the two former officers began on September 20. Prosecutor Jonathan Bunge said in his opening statements, “You will hear no evidence in this case, none, that Elijah McClain did something criminal that night (or) that he was about to engage in criminal activity. He was just walking home.”

Bunge took jurors through the night of McClain’s interaction with police, narrating video footage from that night. He said three officers were dispatched after a 911 call from a 17-year-old boy who saw McClain walking home from a convenience store and thought it was strange he was wearing a coat and a nylon runner’s mask – something McClain did often because he was frequently cold and liked running, according to Bunge.

The prosecution alleged that during their interaction, Roedema, Rosenblatt and the third officer used excessive force without any proof McClain committed any criminal acts – despite his repeated attempts to tell them who he was – and administered two carotid control holds to subdue him.

When the two paramedics arrived, the officers failed to tell them McClain’s vital signs had not been checked and he had complained multiple times he couldn’t breathe. Instead, they told paramedics he continued to resist and had “crazy strength,” Bunge said.

The paramedics diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium,” a controversial diagnosis that describes violent agitation, and administered ketamine, CNN has reported.

They injected McClain with a dose based on an estimate that he was 200 pounds; he in fact weighed 143 pounds, according to the indictment.

Defense attorneys for both officers offered a different narrative of the encounter in their opening statements, focusing on the physical resistance the officers said they experienced from McClain.

Roedema’s attorney, Reid Elkus, alleged McClain resisted the officers and Roedema saw McClain attempt to grab one of the officers’ guns, prompting them to put him on the ground. The prosecution has disputed that McClain reached for a gun, and has said there is no evidence he did so.

The carotid hold, Elkus said, was the only time the officers were able to get McClain to stop resisting. After he was handcuffed, McClain remained responsive, the attorney said.

Defense attorney Harvey Steinberg, who represents Rosenblatt, told jurors Rosenblatt briefly attempted a carotid hold after he heard his colleague say McClain was reaching for a gun as they struggled with him.

McClain’s autopsy report was updated in September 2022 in response to new evidence from a grand jury investigation. His cause of death was changed from “undetermined” to “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint,” Adams County Chief Coroner Monica Broncucia-Jordan wrote in the amended report.

Pathologist Dr. Stephen Cina, who was assisted in the autopsy, said they could not determine whether the carotid hold contributed to McClain’s death.

In 2021, the city settled a civil rights lawsuit with the McClain family for $15 million, and both Aurora police and fire departments agreed to a consent decree to address a pattern of racial bias found by a state investigation.

The post Defense attorneys for 2 former Aurora officers standing trial for involvement in 2019 death of Elijah McClain rest their cases without calling any witnesses appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

California AG sues anti-abortion groups over abortion pill reversal claims

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 01:58:11 +0000

CNN
—

California attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday that his office has filed a lawsuit against two organizations that operate crisis pregnancy centers, saying the organizations used “fraudulent and misleading claims” about a procedure they claim can reverse medication abortions.

The complaint alleges that Heartbeat International (HBI) and RealOptions mislead patients by claiming there is a way to “reverse” the effects of mifepristone, the first of two oral drugs used for medically induced abortions, through a process they call “abortion pill reversal.”

Bonta alleges both companies know there is no evidence showing the protocol works, is safe or is effective, but they keep promoting and advertising it to patients. According to the complaint, the organizations direct a patient to take high doses of progesterone within 72 hours of taking mifepristone to “reverse” the effects of mifepristone.

attorney General Rob Bonta said two groups used ” false=”” and=”” misleading=”” claims=”” to=”” lure=”” patients=”” in.=”” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=”this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)” onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1333″ width=”2000″ loading=”lazy”/>

HBI operates more than 2,000 “pregnancy resource centers” in the United States. RealOptions operates five clinics in California under the name RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics.

RealOptions said in a statement Friday it had not yet been served with the lawsuit.

“RealOptions provides compassionate, comprehensive, high quality holistic reproductive health care, education, and reproductive loss healing to women, men, students, and families,” CEO Valerie Hill said in the statement. “We disagree with the allegations in this lawsuit (allegations that the California AG never gave us an opportunity to address before filing the action) and we look forward to addressing and refuting them in court.”

In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, HBI said it learned of the lawsuit through interview requests. As of Thursday night, HBI said it had not been served the lawsuit.

“Through our Abortion Pill Rescue Network hotline, we know that some women almost immediately regret their chemical abortion choice,” HBI said in its statement. “These women deserve the right to try and save their pregnancies.”

Its post cited “major studies” showing efficacy for the protocol.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, there is no scientific evidence that abortion reversals are effective or safe.

“Those who are struggling with the complex decision to get an abortion deserve support and trustworthy guidance – not lies and misinformation,” the attorney general said in a statement released Thursday.

“HBI and RealOptions took advantage of pregnant patients at a deeply vulnerable time in their lives, using false and misleading claims to lure them in and mislead them about a potentially risky procedure. We are launching today’s lawsuit to put a stop to their predatory and unlawful behavior.”

Bonta is asking the court to stop both companies from promoting the procedures and fine them for violating business codes.

The post California AG sues anti-abortion groups over abortion pill reversal claims appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Hunter Biden sues the IRS, alleging agents illegally released his tax information

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 15:57:51 +0000

CNN
—

Hunter Biden sued the Internal Revenue Service on Monday, alleging its agents illegally released his tax information and that the agency failed to protect his private records.

President Joe Biden’s son alleges the IRS unlawfully disclosed his tax return information and did not establish safeguards to ensure the confidentiality of his records. He is seeking, among other things, all documents involving the disclosure of the tax information, $1,000 for each unauthorized disclosure and attorneys fees.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Washington, DC, does not name the two IRS agents turned whistleblowers as defendants. But the lawsuit is centered on disclosures made by the agents, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, and their lawyers in public statements, congressional testimony and interviews.

Judge Timothy Kelly, a Donald Trump appointee, has been assigned to the case.

It’s being filed amid a swirl of other legal issues facing Hunter Biden, who was indicted by special counsel David Weiss on three felony gun charges last week and is potentially facing additional tax charges by Weiss.

“Despite clear warnings from Congress that they were prohibited from disclosing the contents of their testimony to the public in another forum, Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s testimony only emboldened their media campaign against Mr. Biden,” the lawsuit states. “And finally, since their public testimony before the House of Representatives on July 19, 2023, the agents have become regular guests on national media outlets and have made new allegations and public statements regarding Mr. Biden’s confidential tax return information that were not previously included in their transcripts before the Committee on Ways and Means.”

Specifically, Hunter Biden’s attorneys point to details Shapley shared in an interview with CBS News that aired in late June. During the interview, Shapley alleged that Biden took certain personal expenses as business expenses, including “prostitutes, sex club memberships, hotel rooms for purported drug dealers,” and that Biden owed $2.2 million in unpaid taxes, the lawsuit alleges.

Shapley’s attorneys called the lawsuit a “frivolous smear” and said the agents only discussed information allowed under the statute. Ziegler’s attorney said the lawsuit is an effort to “distract from the ever-growing evidence that supports the testimony of the two IRS whistleblowers.”

The IRS said it does not comment on pending litigation.

“The lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their representatives, and others to disregard their obligations and repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate Mr. Biden’s protected tax return information outside the exceptions for making disclosures in the law,” the lawsuit alleges.

The suit adds: “These agents’ putative ‘whistleblower’ status cannot and does not shield them from their wrongful conduct in making unauthorized public disclosures that are not permitted by the whistleblower process. In fact, a ‘whistleblower’ is supposed to uncover government misconduct, not the details of that employee’s opinion about the alleged wrongdoing of a private person.”

The lawsuit alleges Shapley and Ziegler went beyond confirming the investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes and provided specific allegations, the amount of deductions taken and liabilities owed for tax years.

Tensions have been rising in the investigation. On Friday, Shapley’s lawyers issued a statement saying Hunter Biden’s attorneys have tried to get the Justice Department to retaliate against their clients for making disclosures protected under whistleblower rules.

“Taxpayer privacy laws are written by Congress, and it gave itself authority in those laws to hear disclosures about taxpayer information,” Shapley’s attorney said in a statement on Friday.

The IRS agents went public with their allegations concerning the Justice Department’s handling of investigation into Hunter Biden earlier this year.

In June, the Justice Department announced it had reached a deal with Hunter Biden in which he would plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors for failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018. He had also reached a deal to avoid prosecution on a gun possession charge, but the deal fell apart after a federal judge prodded its structure.

After the judge would not sign off on the deal, talks broke down between Weiss’ office and Hunter Biden’s attorneys. Weiss asked for special counsel status.

This story has been updated with additional details.

The post Hunter Biden sues the IRS, alleging agents illegally released his tax information appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Newport News, Virginia, school shooting: Families of 2 students in Virginia school where 6-year-old student shot his teacher notify district of potential legal action, attorneys say

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 06:09:52 +0000

CNN
—

The families of two students who attend a Virginia school where a 6-year-old student shot and wounded his first-grade teacher last month have filed notices of potential legal action against the school district.

The parents of a first-grader at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, say their daughter suffered from emotional harm after being present in class when her classmate shot his teacher on January 6, according to a legal notice filed by attorney Cheri Belkowitz.

The letter, dated January 30 and sent to former Superintendent Dr. George Parker, also claims that the daughter was “subjected to numerous incidents of bullying, harassment, assault and battery” during the school year. However, administrators “did not take reasonable and appropriate actions to protect” the student, despite being made aware of these issues.

The family of another student alleges their child suffered injuries on the day of the shooting, according to a letter sent by the parents’ attorney, Emily Mapp Brannon, to the city of Newport News. The January 30 letter does not include details on the injuries mentioned. At the time of the shooting, police said no one else was physically injured aside from the teacher.

The school district would not comment in response to the letters. CNN reached out to both attorneys for the families but did not immediately hear back.

The families’ intent to potentially pursue legal action against the district is the latest blow to officials following intense criticism from frustrated parents over the way the situation was handled by administrators.

After the shooting, the superintendent was ousted by a vote from the school board, the school’s assistant principal resigned, the former principal was reassigned to another location, but the district did not say where. The school also implemented additional security measures including metal detectors and clear backpacks.

Further, the letters were filed roughly a week after the teacher’s attorney notified the Newport News School Board of intent to file a lawsuit over administrators’ alleged failure to act when they were allegedly made aware of reports about a gun being on school premises.

Teacher Abigail Zwerner was shot around 2 p.m. on January 6 inside a classroom, roughly 90 minutes after former assistant principal Dr. Ebony Parker was allegedly informed reports of the gun, according the legal notice filed by attorney Diane Toscano, the teacher’s attorney

Toscano’s legal notice also detailed allegations of disturbing behavior displayed by the 6-year-old child prior to the shooting.

Two days before the shooting, the student allegedly “slammed” and broke Zwerner’s cell phone and cursed at guidance counselors, after which he was suspended, according to the document. After the one-day suspension, he returned to Zwerner’s classroom and shot her.

On the day of the shooting, another teacher overheard Zwerner say the 6-year-old student was in a “violent mood,” had threatened to beat up a kindergartner at the school and “angrily stared down the security officer,” according to the legal notice.

After the shooting, the 6-year-old was placed under a temporary detention order and was evaluated at a local hospital. His family has previously said he has a disability he was receiving treatment for at the school.

The post Newport News, Virginia, school shooting: Families of 2 students in Virginia school where 6-year-old student shot his teacher notify district of potential legal action, attorneys say appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.