Biglaw

Furloughed Biglaw Associate Charged In Molotov Cocktail Attack Released On $250K Bond

'This is not the environment into which we want to release bomb-throwers,' a federal prosecutor said.

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Peaceful protests and rioting and looting alike continue to take place across America in the wake of the officer-involved killing of George Floyd, with the president now threatening to bring in the military to enforce law and order. A furloughed Biglaw associate was charged for allegedly taking part in some of these violent crimes, and he had his first appearance in court yesterday.

Please note the update below.

Colinford Mattis, 32, who was furloughed in April as part of Pryor Cashman’s austerity measures against the pandemic, stands accused of damaging a New York City Police Department vehicle with a Molotov cocktail during a Brooklyn protest. Mattis was allegedly behind the wheel of a van while his passenger, Urooj Rahman, 31, a 2019 graduate of Fordham University School of Law who’s been identified as a human rights lawyer, allegedly threw an incendiary device at an unoccupied NYPD vehicle.

During his appearance at the Eastern District of New York, federal prosecutors argued that Mattis should be detained because he had “not demonstrated himself to be a rational person” during the attack, with an assistant U.S. attorney arguing that the “evidence against [Mattis and Rahman] is extremely strong and they are seeking relief back into the same community that is still suffering from the same tensions.” Amid all of the ongoing unrest, the prosecutor said, “This is not the environment into which we want to release bomb-throwers.”

Judge Margo Brodie, however, was not convinced, ordering Mattis’s release along with Rahman, countering that while “[t]he conduct was reckless, it was violent, it was completely lawless,” as attorneys, they both had stable lives prior to these alleged acts.

(Image via LinkedIn)

Brodie upheld U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Gold’s ruling that Colinford Mattis … could be released to confinement in his Brooklyn home on a $250,000 bond. She denied prosecutors’ request for a one-day stay to allow them to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but spokesman John Marzulli of the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed they intend to appeal regardless.

At the time of publication, Pryor Cashman had no update on the status of Mattis’s employment with the firm. Please note the update below for more details.

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UPDATE (12:05 p.m.): Pryor Cashman has suspended Colinford Mattis from the firm without pay pending the resolution of his criminal case. Considering Mattis had already been furloughed, this isn’t much of an update at all.

US Judge Orders Release of Furloughed Pryor Cashman Associate on $250,000 Bond in Molotov Cocktail Case [New York Law Journal]

Earlier: Furloughed Biglaw Associate Charged In New York Molotov Cocktail Attack

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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