Subject:  Re: trial details (pt 4) |
Author:
Chris
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Date Posted: 02/25/08 8:10pm
In reply to:
Chris
's message, "Re: trial details (pt 3)" on 02/22/08 5:52pm
Celebrated trial lawyer Fieger takes on case of state police shooting in Uniontown
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger arrives at the federal courthouse, Downtown, yesterday.Michael Hickenbottom has an accomplished team of attorneys representing him in his federal lawsuit against two Pennsylvania state troopers connected to the fatal shooting of his 12-year-old son in Uniontown in 2002.
But only one of those attorneys has run for governor of Michigan, has been accused of comparing conservative judges to Nazis and claims to have won more multimillion dollar jury awards than any other trial lawyer in the country.
And only one -- attorney Geoffrey Fieger of Southfield, Mich. -- faces federal charges of conspiracy, making false statements and giving thousands of dollars in illegal contributions to Democrat John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign.
Just as Mr. Fieger prepares to deliver an opening argument in the Hickenbottom trial today, his own lawyers are fighting the charges against him in federal court in Michigan.
Mr. Fieger, who ran for governor as a Democrat in 1998 and has been a vocal critic of GOP leaders in his home state, claims he has been targeted by both local Republicans and a U.S. Justice Department packed with appointees of President Bush.
Now Mr. Fieger is fighting to continue a career that has spanned almost three decades, from defense work for assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian to his own CBS radio show ("Fiegertime") to regular appearances on CNN, Fox and Court TV.
"He's not a typical attorney," said Jesse Green, communications director for the Michigan Association for Justice, which counts about 2,000 lawyers, including Mr. Fieger, as members. "He's absolutely a celebrity."
He's also a hugely successful trial lawyer. He says he has been involved with more than 50 multimillion dollar verdicts, including one that he called one of the largest awards in Pennsylvania history: $17.5 million in damages given to 8-year-old Ryan E. Taylor in 2000 when a jury found that poor treatment at Washington Hospital left the boy with permanent brain damage.
Mr. Fieger has also represented clients in dozens of police shooting cases. He lost one this month in Indiana, when a jury said a police officer at Ball State University wasn't liable in the shooting death of a drunken student.
His larger-than-life persona has led many local Michigan news media outlets to dub him as "flamboyant." (His firm's Web site includes a picture of one of the two bronze lions, formerly property of the French Embassy in Morocco, that sit outside his office building.)
"I can't believe how many times that word is used," he said during an interview last night in the lobby of the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown, as he ate a dinner of chili and drank champagne. "You can't just strut into a courtroom and be 'flamboyant.' You'd lose instantaneously."
He made his entrance into electoral politics in 1998, beating the establishment Democratic candidate in the primary to take on then Gov. John Engler, a Republican.
That's when the press and political opponents started closely examining some of Mr. Fieger's more colorful comments from his radio performances, such as a statement that Mr. Engler was "the product of miscegenation between barnyard animals," as the Washington Post reported at the time.
Mr. Fieger said the news media had exaggerated.
"Geoffrey speaks from his heart and often does not temper his comments," said Sam Riddle, a Detroit political consultant who was briefly Mr. Fieger's campaign manager. "It's very easy to find something not to like about Geoffrey Fieger."
Despite his loss, the lawyer continued to play a major role in local politics. He contributed huge sums of money to the 2004 election fight against Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman, a Republican and former U.S. attorney in Detroit.
Mr. Fieger claims his involvement in that campaign has led the Justice Department to target him.
Jerome L. Sherman can be reached at jsherman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1183.
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