Lawyer Allegedly Tortured For Doing Her Job

No lawyer should be treated like a criminal, much less be made to endure torture, simply for doing her job.

Recently, we’ve seen a spate of lawyers who have been arrested for merely doing their jobs. In January, Jami Tillotson, an assistant public defender, was arrested in California after asking police officers to stop questioning her client outside the presence of his lawyer. In February, Laura Liscio, a criminal defense attorney, was arrested in Canada after she brought her client some of his own clothes to wear for a court appearance. While police conduct like this seems particularly egregious, it’s nothing compared to what one Minnesota lawyer allegedly had to endure at the hands of law enforcement officers.

According to a recently filed federal complaint, Michelle MacDonald Shimota, a family law attorney and former Minnesota Supreme Court candidate, was arrested by police during a recess in a child custody trial in September 2013. During the arrest, MacDonald Shimota alleges that all of her personal property was taken from her, including her shoes and eyeglasses. Worse yet, MacDonald Shimota contends that the police strapped her into a wheelchair and returned her to the courtroom that way, where she was allegedly forced to continue litigating the case on behalf of her client while restrained. To make matters even more absurd, MacDonald Shimota further claims that someone removed all of her notes on the case from the courtroom during her arrest, making it incredibly difficult for her to continue in the representation of her client.

What was this family lawyer’s supposed crime? MacDonald Shimota had taken several pictures outside of the courtroom on her phone — and one inside the courtroom — for evidence in a separate case. She claims she was unaware that doing so was a crime.

If you think MacDonald Shimota was treated poorly in court, you ain’t seen nothing yet. She claims that the police tortured her after her trial ended. Here’s more from WND:

After the proceedings were over, MacDonald Shimota was wheeled back into the holding area where, the lawsuit charges, the sheriff’s office engaged in seven of the internationally recognized forms of torture: sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, solitary confinement/isolation, temperature extremes, sensory bombardment and psychological techniques.

MacDonald Shimota spent hours in a cell alone, slept on a freezing floor, and was repeatedly awakened due to noise made by members of the Dakota County sheriff’s department, the lawsuit alleges.

She was finally released after spending more than 24 hours behind bars without being charged, booked or allowed a phone call, the filing complains.

If you think this sounds completely unbelievable, then you’re not alone. MacDonald Shimota’s lawyers, Tayari Garrett and Nathan Busch, didn’t believe the story either at first, but eventually came around. “This is the first time I’d heard of such a case,” Busch said. “This is the United States. Things like that don’t happen here.”

MacDonald Shimota is seeking $7.5 million in damages in this case. Her complaint, which fully details her allegations of torture, is available on the next page.

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There are, however, two sides to this story, and it may be even more complicated than it already seems. The day before MacDonald Shimota was arrested, she filed a lawsuit against Judge David Knutson — the same judge who was presiding over the child custody battle she was litigating on the day of her arrest — asking that he recuse himself from the case. Judge Knutson refused, and MacDonald Shimota claims that her arrest and detention were a form of punishment for bringing suit against the judge.

There’s also a question as to whether MacDonald Shimota was as valiant as she appeared to be when she litigated a case strapped to a wheelchair, shoeless, and without any of her notes. Regardless of the fact that Judge Knutson should never have allowed an attorney to have been subjected to such treatment in his court, a trial transcript reveals that MacDonald Shimota may have brought these things upon herself. From the transcript:

DEPUTY GONDOR: Her shoes are not on her feet because she refused to put them on. Her glasses are not on her face because she refused to put them on. She asked me to put her shoes and her glasses on. I advised her that that was her job and she would not do it. The only reason why she’s in a wheelchair is because she would not even stand up to be a part of these proceedings. We had to lift her from her seat and seat her in the chair to get her here. …

THE COURT: Okay. Ms. MacDonald, these are choices purely made by you and you alone. You can easily remedy this by complying with the Sheriff’s Department and putting your own shoes on and putting your own glasses on….

MacDonald Shimota was cited for contempt of court and obstructing legal process, but those charges were later dismissed. Even the judge on the case thought MacDonald Shimota brought this cruel and unusual police treatment upon herself:

In a ruling, Judge Leslie Metzen said that deputies should have obtained a warrant before examining the contents of MacDonald [Shimota]’s camera for evidence of illicit picture-taking. In the same ruling, Metzen determined that MacDonald [Shimota]’s detention in lieu of a citation “was a violation of rules of procedure but was justified by defendant’s actions.”

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In her own defense, MacDonald Shimota said in an interview last year with Politics in Minnesota that she was confused by the deputies’ questions, noting, “I wasn’t some crazy lady resisting. I was just stunned. You see these swarms of deputies like I’m some sort of criminal. It’s really sad.”

It’s actually very sad, at least if MacDonald Shimota’s account of what happened to her is accurate. No lawyer should be treated like a criminal — much less be made to endure torture — simply for doing her job.

(N.B. This is not Michelle MacDonald Shimota’s first brush with the law. She was arrested on DWI charges in April 2013. At the time of her arrest, she refused to take a breath test, telling police officers that she was a lawyer and that she wanted to walk home. She was later acquitted of a misdemeanor drunken driving charge, but sentenced to 30 days of electronic home monitoring and two years’ probation for refusal to submit to a breath test, obstructing the legal process, and speeding.)

(Flip through the following pages to see Michelle MacDonald Shimota’s lawsuit in full, as well as the trial transcript.)

Lawsuit: Female attorney strapped up in court [WND]
GOP’s Supreme Court endorsement puts spotlight on MacDonald [Politics in Minnesota]
MacDonald sentenced to 30 days’ home monitoring, probation, fine [Star Tribune]
Minnesota Supreme Court candidate was charged with DWI in April [Pioneer Press]

Earlier: Defense Lawyer Arrested For Following Proper Procedure — Police Lie About It
Lawyer Arrested For Doing Her Job