James Crawford
Earlier this year, defense attorney James Crawford had time to reflect on his life as his head was smashed into a wooden bench when he got pummeled in the Orange County courthouse. It wasn’t something the veteran criminal defense lawyer expected to happen, especially inside a courthouse, but there he was, drenched in his own blood anyway. To paraphrase from The Big Lebowski: sometimes you pass the bar, and sometimes the bar crushes your skull as you’re violently thrown into it.
Crawford eventually walked away with a broken bone in his face and severe cuts and bruises. As Barstool Sports put it at the time, “[Crawford] looks like Vin Diesel took a wrench to his head because he killed his father.”
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Artist’s rendering of the altercation.
The man doing the smashing was investigator Dillon Alley, who claims to have somehow been injured in the fight too. Alley escaped punishment for the incident because, according to authorities, there were witnesses to the fight supporting both sides. I mean, there are people on both sides of global warming too, but at a certain point you’d think that even “oh, that guy was a dick and Alley was right to punch him” has to fall by the wayside when Alley’s got enough of an upper hand to pop open Crawford’s head like a coconut. Alas, local prosecutors disagreed.
Now, Crawford is suing for $30 million. That’s Mayweather money, and Crawford looks a lot more like one of Mayweather’s opponents.
There’s nothing really surprising about the lawsuit, but the Orange County Register’s coverage tosses in a fascinating little bit of background:
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Tensions between local prosecutors and defense attorneys have been high in the past two years as judges have ruled in favor of attorneys complaining that the DA’s office and the sheriff’s department misused jailhouse informants and withheld evidence in several high-profile cases.
Oh ho! So law enforcement and the prosecutors were feeling some heat when this happened? That certainly feeds a theory that local prosecutors might have had more than a little skin in the game when they couldn’t figure out who could possibly be at fault in this fight.
Only time will tell if Crawford prevails or not, but even if he loses, he can take solace in knowing it can only ever be his second-worst beating in Orange County court.
Lawyer seeks $30 million over courthouse fight [Orange County Register]
Earlier: Attorney Brutally Pummeled In Courthouse Beating
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.