Governor Kate Brown of Oregon signed new gun legislation yesterday, seizing the headlines when searching the internet for “Oregon” and “Guns.” But the story that held sway before the Oregon government’s strong stance on firearms was a bit more bonkers: an attorney allegedly got so angry at co-counsel that he went down and shot up the guy’s office.
Erik Graeff, a Portland-area lawyer, was recently arrested for allegedly driving down to Beaverton, Oregon, and taking pot shots at another lawyer’s office after sending multiple profanity-laced emails to Terrence Hogan of Scott S. Kang PC. Here’s the timeline from Oregon Live:
The dispute apparently began because the other lawyer, Terrence Hogan, had left Graeff a voicemail saying he didn’t approve of Graeff’s work on a recent civil case in Washington the two teamed together on.
Graeff responded to Hogan’s voicemail with an email at 3:40 p.m., belittling the message and attached a picture of a cat playing a violin, the affidavit said. Hogan replied about a half-hour later saying Graeff will have to explain his conduct to the state bars in Oregon and Washington. Graeff is licensed to practice in both states.
Graeff replied that the idea “sounds good,” that he’d be waiting and he’s tougher than Hogan and both state bars, the affidavit said.
“You know where I am tough guy,” Hogan wrote at 4:35 p.m., according to the court papers.
This is a good time to revisit the Chappelle Show’s brilliant recurring sketch “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong.” When arguing with a Marine sniper — yes, Graeff is a Marine sniper — don’t respond to implicit statements about physical violence with “You know where I am tough guy.”
“If the traffic wasn’t such [expletive], I’d be there today,” Graeff emailed three minutes later.
In Hogan’s defense, traffic is ALWAYS [expletive] on Sunset, so he probably thought he was safe forever. Alas, it was not to be.
Bringing us to the fact that the real loser in a “Keeping It Real” game would be an attorney who received that response and decided to drive down to suburban Portland and take some shots into an office. The shots that police say Graeff fired narrowly missed an administrative assistant still working in the office at around 7 p.m.
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“With that off my chest merry Christmas buddy,” Graeff ended the email according to the affidavit. “Don’t suck too many reindeer [expletive] over the holiday.”
No word on whether or not Hogan sucked too many reindeer [expletives] over the holiday.
Attorney accused of shooting other lawyer’s office in Beaverton [Oregon Live]
Lawyer described as a ‘decorated’ sniper is accused of shooting at another attorney’s office [ABA Journal]
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.