California, Crime

Attorney Brutally Pummeled In Courthouse Beating

An investigator for the D.A.'s office and a defense attorney got in a fight, and the defense attorney came away much worse for wear.

By  
on

Screen-Shot-2016-03-10-at-4.18.21-PMA courthouse fight typically involves some elderly judge getting his robes in a bunch and trying to whip some hapless lawyer. But this is something else entirely. This is a savage beatdown. Defense attorney James Crawford got beaten like an extra from The Raid. Per the Los Angeles Times:

Jerry Steering, a lawyer representing Crawford, said his client was in the courthouse to represent a woman who was subpoenaed to testify. The D.A.’s investigator was assigned to watch over the woman, he said.

When Crawford approached his client, the investigator disparaged defense attorneys as “sleazy,” Steering said. Crawford replied that defense attorneys were no worse than the Orange County district attorney’s office, which has been mired in an ever-widening scandal over the use of testimony from inmate informants.

As Crawford walked away, the investigator flicked a large paper clip at the lawyer, Steering said. Crawford then tossed the clip back toward the investigator.

“The investigator then grabs [Crawford’s] head and slams it into the bench and then punches him like 10 times in the face and head,” Steering said, adding that sheriff’s deputies and officers from the Santa Ana Police Department had to remove the investigator.

Holy hell. That is a literal “benchslap.” As Barstool Sports put it:

When I saw the headline I assumed this was a lawyer fight. You know, the standard fight between people wearing Sperrys and polos yelling, “My dad’s gonna sue you!” at each other. But, boy oh boy, did this dude get his ass kicked. I had Chris Tucker eyes the second I opened that page and saw this dude’s face, it looks like Vin Diesel took a wrench to his head because he killed his father or something.

There’s a petition calling for the arrest of the investigator involved. One would hope. The investigator’s lawyer, Paul Meyer — who, coincidentally, I used to be in a March Madness pool with — says his client was also injured in the fight, which I can only assume means he got carpel tunnel from the repetitive motion of ramming Crawford’s head into a bench.

Not to bring us all down, but let’s be honest: while the level of violence this time is shocking, this really was only a hop, skip, and jump from cuffing a public defender for doing her job. Think about this: both of these incidents happened inside a courthouse! Not that such behavior outside the courthouse would be any better, but it speaks to how out of hand it’s gotten that the “temples of justice” aren’t even sacred enough to encourage restraint. When a culture of contempt is allowed to fester the way the disdain for defense attorneys has gone unchecked in law enforcement, these abuses and outbursts are going to happen.

If you don’t see the connection, you probably were shocked a black dude got coldcocked at a Trump rally too.

Sponsored

LA Lawyer Got The SHIT Kicked Out Of Him At The Courthouse This Morning [Barstool Sports]
Lawyer and D.A. investigator have bloody brawl in Orange County courthouse [Los Angeles Times]
Petition calls for arrest of D.A. investigator involved in altercation with defense attorney [Los Angeles Times]

Earlier: Judge Beats Up Public Defender
Lawyer Arrested For Doing Her Job

Sponsored

Topics

, , , , ,