Lawyer Suspended For Facebook Post Explaining How To Shoot An Abuser Without Getting Caught
Probably not something you want to talk about on social media.
Tennessee attorney Winston Bradshaw Sitton has been suspended for four years, with one year to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation for his response to a friend’s Facebook post where he appears to give specific advice on how to avoid prosecution if she shot her ex-boyfriend.
According to reports, Sitton has claimed his posts were “dark humor” and “sarcastic,” with the goal of dissuading the woman from carrying a gun in her car. Here’s how the interactions at the core of the suspension played out:
Sitton wrote the Facebook post after the woman posted in December 2017: “I need to always carry my gun with me now, don’t I? Is it legal to carry in TN in your car without paying the damn state?”
According to the ruling, Sitton responded: “I have a carry permit, Lauren. The problem is that if you pull your gun, you must use it. I am afraid that, with your volatile relationship with your baby’s daddy, you will kill your ex—your son’s father. Better to get a taser or a canister of tear gas. Effective but not deadly. If you get a shot gun, fill the first couple rounds with rock salt, the second couple with bird shot, then load for bear.
“If you want to kill him, then lure him into your house and claim he broke in with intent to do you bodily harm and that you feared for your life. Even with the new stand your ground law, the castle doctrine is a far safer basis for use of deadly force.”
The woman responded: “I wish he would try.”
Sitton then wrote: “As a lawyer, I advise you to keep mum about this if you are remotely serious. Delete this thread and keep quiet. Your defense is that you are afraid for your life—revenge or premeditation of any sort will be used against you at trial.”
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The post was deleted, but the ex-boyfriend gave a screenshot of it to the district attorney, who referred the incident to Tennessee’s Board of Professional Responsibility. A hearing panel recommended a 60-day suspension, but the Tennessee Supreme Court determined that was not a severe enough penalty.
The Tennessee Supreme Court found Sitton’s posts were “clearly prejudicial to the administration of justice” and:
“The social media posts fostered a public perception that a lawyer’s role is to manufacture false defenses,” the court said. “They projected a public image of corruption of the judicial process.”
Sitton has taken to Facebook again, this time on his firm’s page, to offer commentary on his suspension:
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“I adamantly contest the finding that my gratuitous commentary offered in 2017 to a battered woman, who was being threatened and abused and harassed by her son’s father, was legal advice as to how to commit a crime or in any way violated my duties as either a citizen or as a lawyer,” he wrote on his firm’s Facebook page.
“My intent in the offensive exchange, manifest in the context of the complete correspondence never considered as evidence, was to use sarcasm in order to emphasize the peril inherent in carrying a firearm without adequate training; as well as to underscore the additional danger that her extensive discussion of self-defense might be misconstrued to have a malign intent and used against her in ongoing litigation with her abuser. …
“I do admit that the language I used, albeit taken out of context, was intemperate and regret the way this utterance was phrased; however, I note that the comment was intentionally caustic and cynical as it was both offered as, and understood by the recipient to be, a sardonic, sarcastic remark made in order to convince the lady not to resort to lethal force and not to discuss any such matters in an open forum.”
Maybe now Sitton will be a lot more careful before going off on legal doctrines on social media.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).