Crime, Drinking, Guns / Firearms, Lawyer of the Day, Screw-Ups, Violence

Lawyer of the Day: Georgetown Law Grad Pulls Trigger, May Have Shot Career In The Foot

A prosecutor in Miami recently resigned from his job, amid controversy. What did he do to get himself in hot water?

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It’s still a very challenging economy for recent law school graduates. The class of 2011 has just hit the market and many of them are still without jobs. For the class of 2010 — well, if it hasn’t happened by now you have to start wondering if it is ever going to happen.

But there’s a job opening in Miami, thanks to a spectacularly boneheaded move by a member of the class of 2010. Apparently, a 2010 GULC grad got drunk and fired his gun in the parking garage of a condominium.

He wasn’t arrested, but he will resign, because you can’t get drunk and shoot off your gun and still be a Miami prosecutor…

The Miami-Herald has the comical story about a man’s right to bear arms:

A young Miami-Dade prosecutor has resigned after he was investigated by police earlier this month for shooting his handgun inside a Brickell Key condominium parking garage after a night of drinking.

Manuel A. Guarch, 26, will not be arrested for improperly shooting his Glock pistol, but facing possible termination, he resigned. His girlfriend, Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Heather Griffin, was demoted for her involvement in the episode…

“Mr. Guarch admitted that he discharged the firearm, however, he used care directing the shots to the corner of the garage away from any vehicles or persons or specific location with intent to harm,” Miami Officer Oscar Fernandez wrote in his report.

Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss said Monday that to officers, “It appeared they had been drinking.”

Oh, he took care. Care was taken! Don’t worry about the drunk guy shooting in an enclosed parking garage, because he’s being careful.

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He’s not going to be arrested or charged with anything. A friend of mine from Florida explained it this way to me this morning: “Elie, in Florida I could shoot at you and as long as I missed and/or I reasonably believed you were looking at me funny, I could still keep my Glock.”

He was joking. I think:

“Firing a weapon in public — we certainly frown upon it. It’s a safety hazard and people could get hurt,” Moss said. “By the same token, after speaking with prosecutors in Broward, based up on what we had in front of us, there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest him.”

Guarch, a Georgetown University law graduate, was hired August 2010 and was assigned to prosecute misdemeanor crimes in County Court. His defense attorney, John Priovolos, said in a statement: “There was an investigation conducted by an independent authority and they concluded that no arrest should be made and no charges should be filed.”

Well, you know, as long as getting drunk and discharging your weapon in public for no reason is “frowned upon.”

In any event, at least one of Guarch’s Georgetown University Law Center classmates wasn’t exactly shocked that Guarch’s career has suffered a setback so soon out of the gate. Here’s the opinion of one tipster:

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The kid was a huge mess in law school, and while no one’s career should crash right after takeoff, if anyone in our class were going to end up in this mess, it could only be him.

For Guarch, it might be difficult for him to recover from this setback. There are a lot of unemployed people in the class of 2010 who didn’t have to resign under controversial circumstances.

Miami-Dade prosecutor resigns after Brickell Key shooting incident [Miami Herald]

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