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Re: Why Nancy Grace Should be Disbarred
Posted by DC Attorney on 6/24/05

    Let me guess - you got those stats from Nancy's own website?

    Well, I am an attorney, licensed in three states, including GA, and Nancy
    has one claim to fame that I do not share. She has been reprimanded by
    the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for unethical behavior as an attorney by
    1) "failing to disclose exculpatory evidence to a criminal defendant";
    and 2) "playing fast and loose with her ethical duties as a prosecutor";
    and
    3) "failed to fulfill her ethical duties as a prosecutor."

    She has also been reprimanded by the Supreme Court of Georgia for similar
    antics during two other cases, one of which was reversed.

    Maybe I will print copies of the opinions and forward them to the State
    Bar of Georgia for disbarment proceedings.

    Fancy Nancy should learn that nobody - not even her Peroxidness is above
    the law. As this opinion shows, there is a big difference between being a
    real attorney and prosecuting someone for a traffic ticket.

    Anyone who is a booster of Nancy's obviously is not an attorney and is
    deluded by her self-serving and highly inaccurate press. Real attorneys
    behave ethically and honestly, not like FancyNancy.

    DC Attorney

    http://legalethicsforum.typepad.com/blog/2005/05/laura_i_applema.html

    I’ve been following the Nancy Grace case with much distress. For those
    who haven’t been following the incident, Nancy Grace, the host of a
    epononymously-titled legal show on CNN and CourtTV, was recently
    chastised by the 11th Circuit as having "played fast and loose" with her
    ethical duties as a Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor in 1990. See
    Stephens v. Hall, No. 03-15251 (11th Cir., May 2, 2005).


    On her Court TV biography page, Grace lists her perfect record of nearly
    100 felony convictions at trial and no losses. This record is slightly
    less impressive, however, when you review the 11th Circuit’s decision,
    which, while upholding the conviction, criticizes Grace for failing to
    follow her obligation to disclose information about other potential
    suspects to defense counsel, as well as knowingly using a detective’s
    false testimony that there were no other suspects. And this wasn’t the
    first time Grace was criticized for her unethical behavior as a
    prosecutor. In 1997, the Georgia Supreme Court called her improper
    summations and her withholding evidence from the defense "inexcusable."
    Carr v. State, 267 Ga. 701 (1997). And in 1995, the same court reversed
    one of Grace’s convictions because she "exceeded the wide latitude of
    closing argument" by referring to the defendant’s prior convictions,
    which were not relevant to the case. Bell v. State, 263 Ga. 776 (1994).

    I don’t think it’s going out on a limb to say that achieving victory for
    your client, whether complainant or defendant, must be done ethically. In
    Stephens, Grace failed to follow her basic ethical obligations to
    disclose relevant information to the defense. This was not just a mistake
    on Grace’s part, but a purposeful and egregious tactic done to ensure a
    conviction.


    Grace is completely unapologetic about her actions, saying only that the
    case was one of 100 that she successfully prosecuted. This attitude is
    completely unacceptable, however. The defendant in this case was denied a
    fair trial due to the trickery and deceit of a state actor, which is bad
    enough. But to have that state actor now star on her own legal talk show
    and suffer no consequences? I am hardly the first to suggest this, but
    let me add my name to those calling for Grace’s resignation from CNN.


    Any lawyer can make mistakes or ethical violations in the heat of trial,
    but Grace’s systemic abuse of her power as a prosecutor brings shame on
    the profession. That we are currently rewarding her with national
    television exposure is distasteful. If she does not resign on her own
    accord, then CNN should take action and remove her itself.

    Laura I Appleman

     
     

 
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