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November 20, 2008 |
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| July 09, 2008 |
By: Billy Shields |
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rusading anti-porn attorney Jack Thompson should be permanently disbarred with no chance for reinstatement, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis recommended today.
The judge outlined her findings in a 169-page report on five disciplinary cases involving 31 allegations and almost 6,000 pages of evidence.
The lifetime disbarment would be stiffer than the Bar’s suggested penalty last month to disbar the Coral Gables attorney for at least 10 years.
Tunis previously found Thompson guilty of 27 Bar rule violations in the course of various matters in and out of court.
Transgressions noted by Tunis include:
• Thompson told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ronald M. Friedman that he was “the kind of guy who would wave into an intersection a child to be run over by a semi,” referred to the judge as “Kim Jung Il” and claimed he held a “bizarre séance” in his chambers.
• Thompson “made abusive and frankly vulgar allegations regarding bisexual pedophilia posted on a Web site.”
• Thompson “continued to go for the perceived jugular of each individual who ruled against him” in five cases.
• His conduct and behavior “surpasses the extreme, at the very least” by causing “a series of chain reactions or utterly inappropriate, offensive and debasing conduct that belies any sense of moral decency or professionalism” in dealings with attorneys from the Miami law firm of Tew Cardenas who have been in a protracted battle with Thompson over their representation of a radio broadcast company that aired shock jock Howard Stern’s show.
Thompson denied saying anything false, said he made no vulgar comments, but instead entered vulgar material as part of the evidence in a case, and noted any offensive descriptions he has made were accurate.
“I haven’t said anything false about anybody,” he said. “Hurtful? Too bad. It happened to be true.”
Tunis previously found Thompson made false statements to tribunals, disparaged and humiliated litigants and other lawyers, improperly practiced law outside Florida and made inaccurate statements about the qualifications or integrity of a judge.
Tunis was out of her office and not available for comment.
In a telephone interview, Thompson said Tunis’ report is beneficial to him because the judge made mistakes that will come back to haunt her.
“It’s an incredibly foolish move to go beyond even what the Bar asked for,” he said. “She went over the top in so many ways.”
A typical disbarment generally allows an attorney to reapply for admission to the Bar after five years.
After receiving today’s findings, Thompson wrote an open letter to the Florida Supreme Court, saying in an e-mail that “my only sin was to annoy porn lawyers to protect the jurors’ children.”
The state’s high court has the final say in attorney discipline cases.
“I’ll see you in court, and it won’t be your court,” Thompson wrote the Supreme Court. “I am rather certain that the jury I will stand before fairly soon, with The Bar as a defendant, will not be favorably impressed with The Bar.”
Thompson walked out of a hearing last month before Tunis, saying he couldn’t participate in a proceeding and challenge its legitimacy at the same time.
Tunis released her opinion following a contentious set of hearings involving Thompson, who came to prominence by denouncing the sexually suggestive rap lyrics of Luther Campbell’s 2 Live Crew.
Bar counsel Sheila Tuma last month requested enhanced disbarment, saying that Thompson demonstrated a continuing pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to acknowledge any wrongdoing. Enhanced disbarment allows reapplication for admission to the Bar after 10 years.
Tuma was not available for comment.
Tunis reviewed complaints based on Thompson’s appearance in an Alabama case and allegations filed with the Bar by Friedman, Fayette County, Ala., Circuit Judge James Moore and attorneys from the law firms Tew Cardenas and Blank Rome.
The Bar complaints say Thompson sent letters, e-mails, faxes, news releases and court filings peppered with misstatements and falsehoods in violation of the Bar rules of professional conduct.
Thompson tried unsuccessfully to get Tunis removed from his case by challenging her authority to oversee his case based on her signature on a loyalty oath notarized in 2000. An investigation by the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office concluded the signature was forged, but court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler said the judge’s authority flowed from a separate oath of office rather than the loyalty oath.
In March, the Supreme Court ordered Thompson to stop filing documents about his disciplinary case with the high court without the signature of another Florida Bar member. The court’s clerk has since refused to accept documents filed by him. Thompson maintains the decision violates his Sixth Amendment right to choose his own legal representation.
Billy Shields can be reached at bshields@alm.com or at (305) 347-6649.
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