Legal Ethics

Holding Another Lawyer At Gunpoint Is Bad Form

Pulling a gun seems like a reasonable response...

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gun firearm Glock horizontalDisciplinary authorities in Delaware are frowning upon a “prank” where a prosecutor cajoled a security officer to pull a gun on another prosecutor. Who said those guys down in the 302 don’t know how to have fun? It’s not all clam bakes and registering shell corporations.

Professor Michael Frisch at the Legal Profession Blog explains what happened when Sussex County Deputy Attorneys General stop being polite and start to get someone to pull a gun on their co-worker:

One of his colleagues (Donahue) decided to have some fun with him. They had worked closely together for years and considered themselves to be part of a “band of brothers.” They had a history of pranking each other.

The prank started because of the sanctioned attorney ‘s well-known “aversion to the smell of hardboiled eggs” which caused a gag reflex. There was a running joke in the office over the so-called “hardboiled egg feud.”

When the attorney came into the room, Donahue was “eating an egg over his files with additional eggs sitting in his box of files.” This caused those in the room to engage in unrestrained laughter.

Of course you realize, this means war. So the pranked attorney, Gelof, elicited the chief of security to finish the prank war:

The security chief (Garrison) succumbed to his importunings. He entered the witness room, pointed his gun at Donahue and uttered the following: “Gelof says keep the eggs away from his files.”

Anyhoo… the prank would have worked too, if it weren’t for a pesky detective in the room who wasn’t privy to the history of “egg and firearm” yuks these boys have around the office and pulled his own gun believing he was in the middle of an actual threat.

In the end, the security chief was suspended, Gelof earned a two-month suspension and a demotion, and the court barred bailiffs from carrying their guns into courtrooms statewide. The punishment for Gelof is most fascinating because this is the first time in recorded history a prosecutor is being held responsible for making peace officers abuse their power… Zing!

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To review, some sadsack prosecutor got cheesed and got an Elephant Ear to pull his Roscoe on the guy to get some attention.

That’s some real hard-boiled s**t right there…

I Am The Egg Man [Legal Profession Blog]

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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