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Posted on 01/18/2003 3:17:06 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
At the center of the new inquiry by the Dallas County district attorney's office is an affidavit that criminal defense lawyer Catherine Mehaffey Shelton made in late 2001 to the sheriff's department to guarantee a client's $25,000 bail bond.
Ms. Shelton swore in the document that there were no judgments pending against her. At the time, however, Ms. Shelton faced judgments that totaled nearly $15,000, according to county clerk records compiled by The Dallas Morning News. Five of the claims against her, in fact, are by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department for bail bonds she previously had guaranteed, but which had been defaulted on.
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Mr. Shelton, a one-time jailer and deputy constable, was convicted of wounding Marisa Hierro, Ms. Shelton's former office manager, and killing Ms. Hierro's husband, Michael, in a shotgun ambush three years ago outside the Hierros' home in Rowlett. He is serving a life sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Allred Unit near Wichita Falls.
Ms. Hierro, who had helped some of Ms. Shelton's former clients file grievances against Ms. Shelton with the State Bar, identified Ms. Shelton as the second masked attacker in the assault, telling investigators that she recognized her former employer's voice, a wisp of blonde hair peeking from beneath the mask and her manicured nails.
Ms. Shelton, who has steadfastly denied any involvement, has not been arrested or indicted in the Hierro shootings.
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According to state bar records, Ms. Shelton's law license has been suspended twice before.
The first time was in 1983, after she pleaded guilty in Houston to aggravated assault, admitting that she shot former boyfriend Gary Taylor twice. Under a plea bargain, which reduced the charge from attempted murder, she was placed on 10 years' probation. Her law license was automatically suspended. It was restored in June 1988 when she won early release from probation.
In January 1999, her license was suspended for six months for professional misconduct, although she was allowed to continue practicing law while on probation. That discipline stemmed from grievances filed by three former clients who, according to court records, said that Ms. Shelton, after taking retainers from them, didn't inform them about their cases and refused to respond to their repeated phone calls.
One of those clients, Jessie Hill, and his wife, June, also filed a lawsuit against Ms. Shelton, accusing her of negligence in representing him in a probation hearing and on an appeal. Court records show that Judge Merrill Hartman twice ordered the case to mediation, and each time Ms. Shelton failed to appear. She also failed to appear when the case was set for trial in August 2000, according to court records.
The judge awarded the Hills an $11,500 default judgment against Ms. Shelton, but it was not recorded in the county clerk's office, so there is no record of whether it has been paid. The Hills could not be found for comment.
The attorney who represented them, Warren Hays, said he did not believe that the $11,500 award has been paid.
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Why has this monster kept on with her evil activities? NO Attorney regulation by the corrupt bar associations.
Solution? A total disempowerment of the bar associations. Lawyer discipline by true consumer control agencies. Regulated by an open governmental process, with all complaints against lawyers open for public inspection. Like any other industry. Government has, even for the most libertarian of tastes, basic functions to protect the nation. And the lawyer industry is a grave threat to our freedoms and democracy, make no mistake. Complaint would be handled by the "Texas Lawyer Consumer Control Board," its website listing all complaints against attorneys and disciplinary actions, etc. Look to regulation of any other industry for models.
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The advice:
Be sure it is your client who goes to jail.
Solution? A total disempowerment of the bar associations. Lawyer discipline by true consumer control agencies.
Too complex.
Let's just kill all the lawyers.
A return to Judicial Combat would provide a system no more random than today's Trial by Lawyer. And it would eliminate the need for an apeals system or prisons.
So9
But how to do this efficiently?
Make sure all the ambulances have good brakes and the drivers stamp down on them fast and hard.
Good one. I was thinking of using lots of sewer bait to exterminate all those big, fat, slimey 'rats.
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