Stupid Lawyer Tricks

District Attorney Candidate Uses 'The Girl In My Bathtub' Section Of Campaign Website To Explain Away Dead Paralegal

Perhaps this was ill-advised.

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Back in 2013 and 2014, prominent Philadelphia defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr. was in the news, not for the clients he represented — who have included alleged Mob figures like Joey Merlino and Nicodemo Scarfo — but because of the “girl in his bathtub.” Now, in 2021, Peruto is back in the news, not because he’s running as a Republican to challenge Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner — he says all the other Democratic candidates will lose “because of the money behind [Krasner] put up by George Soros” — but because of the “girl in his bathtub.”

Who, exactly, was the “girl in his bathtub” and why is she still relevant all these years later? Let’s discuss.

In May 2013, a 26-year-old paralegal by the name of Julia Papazian Law was found dead in Peruto’s bathtub. Law worked for Peruto, and later dated him for about a month or two. At the time, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams (who was years later arrested and convicted of bribery) convened a grand jury to investigate her death. After a little less than a year, the probe ended, and the DA’s Office issued a simple, one-line statement: “The investigation into the death of Julia Law has concluded and there was no evidence of criminal activity found.” Law enforcement officials believe that Law, who was found face-down in the tub, likely drowned, possibly after a seizure. In addition, an autopsy found that Law she a blood-alcohol level greater than 0.40 percent. (The legal threshold for DUI is 0.08, and a blood-alcohol level in excess of 0.35 percent can be fatal.)

Peruto once referred to Law as his “soulmate,” but now it seems that she’s come back to haunt him. As noted by Raw Story, his campaign website contains a rather curious section on its “About Me” page. Have a look:

Peruto elaborates, saying much, much, much more about the “girl in [his] bathtub”:

In 2013, I was dating a woman for about 6 weeks.  It’s impossible to know everything about a person in that short amount of time. I learned more about her after she died by reading an investigative article done by Philadelphia Magazine, written by Lisa DePaulo, which opened my eyes.

In short, the best way to start with this is the Medical Examiner’s report stating that her BAC was .45 and the cause of death was alcohol intoxication. But because she was found in my tub, everyone, including myself, assumed she drowned.  So many empty vodka bottles were found, it looked like there was a party in my house, but inspection of the security video of people entering and leaving showed only her.  …

The long story short is that I was not her only boyfriend, but it was my apartment where she expired.  If it was another boyfriend’s apartment, you would have never heard of the case.

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Peruto’s campaign website is making the rounds on Twitter thanks to Michael Whitney, who caught some hilarious text before edits were made:

Gritty, was that you? Go birds!

The only thing Peruto forgot to mention here was the fact that this was made into a Lifetime movie that’s called … wait for it … “The Girl in the Bathtub.” Here’s the trailer:

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We’d wish Chuck Peruto good luck in the upcoming election, but he’ll need even better luck to someday escape the girl in his bathtub.

Republican has ‘The Girl in my Bathtub’ section on campaign website to explain dead paralegal [Raw Story]

Earlier: Paralegal’s Death In Boss/Boyfriend’s Bathtub Declared Accidental
Paralegal Found Naked, Dead in Her Boss/Boyfriend’s Bathtub

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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