General Legal

Prosecutor Seeks Volunteers for Toilet Test

A Northern Wisconsin prosecutor is looking for women volunteers willing to stick their heads in toilets to help prove his murder theory.

District Attorney Al Moustakis of Vilas County wants to do a second round of toilet tests with women about 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds—about the size of the late Genell Plude, the Associated Press reports.

Prosecutors contend Plude’s husband, Douglas Plude, murdered his wife because she wanted to leave him, the AP story says. They claim he gave her an overdose of a migraine drug then pushed her head down into the toilet while she vomited. Douglas Plude, on the other hand, says his wife was suicidal and he tried to revive her after finding her slumped over the toilet.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Plude’s earlier conviction because an expert witness who conducted earlier toilet tests had exaggerated his credentials. Moustakis has hired a new expert to test whether a victim could drown on her own in a toilet.

90-Day Suspension Recommended for Rude ‘Judge Judy’

A Seattle-area small claims and traffic-court judge is once again facing punishment for rude behavior on the bench.

Washington state’s Judicial Conduct Commission is recommending a 90-day suspension for Judge Judith Eiler, known as King County’s “Judge Judy,” the Associated Press reports.

The commission said Eiler cut off defendants as they were speaking and belittled them, according to the story. Witnesses “felt they did not have the opportunity to present their case; that they were scolded, intimidated, mistreated and threatened that their case would be decided not upon the facts, but upon how they responded to the judge,” the opinion said.

A dissenting commission member said there is no evidence that Eiler made incorrect decisions or that her integrity was in question.

Eiler underwent behavior therapy with an emphasis on sensitivity training after she received a reprimand in 2005 for impatient and rude behavior.

Eiler’s lawyer, Anne Bremner, says her client is simply a no-nonsense judge with a high caseload.

“Her name is Judge Judy, but she’s not like ‘Judge Judy’ on TV,” Bremner told AP. “She’s a very tough, old-fashioned judge and she loves what she does. She wants people to be better for having appeared before her.”

Judge Suspended for Getting Discount Divorce in Exchange for Referrals

A Minnesota judge will be benched without pay for six months for steering business to a divorce lawyer who represented the judge in his divorce proceeding and gave him a $63,503 discount off of his $108,876 bill, reports the Star Tribune. The state board on judicial standards recommended the sanction for District Judge Timothy Blakeley, finding that the judge violated judicial rules and codes by accepting the discount from his lawyer, Christine Stroemer, after appointing her as a mediator in cases he oversaw. The appointments began in December 2003 when Blakely received notice from Stroemer that he was “severely delinquent” on his bill for representation in his divorce. That month, Blakely appointed Stroemer to mediate a case he oversaw and he went on to order many couples to submit to mediation with her over the next few years.

In the meantime, after Blakely’s divorce matter concluded in 2004, Stroemer agreed to let Blakely settle his bill for $45,372, though he had owed $108,876. The discount was the largest that Stroemer has given a client. Stroemer e-mailed Blakely that she hoped he would “continue to refer mediation cases to me.” Blakely told the disciplinary panel that he never expected anything in return for his referrals. But the panel found the explanation “hardly credible.”

But what about Stroemer — isn’t she also culpable? The article doesn’t say. However, most bar rules prohibit attorneys from giving something of value in exchange for referrals and Stroemer gave the judge a discount to keep the appointments from him flowing. Indeed, the judge should have known better, but as a lawyer, Stroemer should have declined to accept the appointments.

San Francisco Lawyer Accused in Plot to Steal Assets of Missing Man

A San Francisco lawyer has been accused of helping forge documents in a scheme to obtain the assets of a man who has been missing since December.

Lawyer David Replogle is accused of drawing up a power of attorney so other plotters could withdraw money from the bank accounts of the missing Palm Springs man, 74-year-old Cliff Lambert, and sell his home, the Daily Journal reports (sub. req.). The home sale wasn’t completed after Lambert’s personal lawyer, Martina Kang Ravicz, saw grant deeds transferring the property, the story says.

Replogle has pleaded not guilty to signing the name of another person with the intent to defraud, as well as other charges, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reports.

Three others have also been charged in the scheme. The Daily Journal identifies them as Kaushal Niroula, art consultant Russell Herbert Manning, and former Replogle client Daniel Carlos Garcia. Niroula has also pleaded not guilty, the Desert Sun says, and the other two are still at large.

The four men are charged with several counts of felony forgery, impersonation and burglary, the Daily Journal says.

The power of attorney papers allegedly gave Manning the authority to sell Lambert’s home to Niroula for $298,000, although it was valued at $1 million. Authorities say Replogle admitting he accepted $5,000 from Niroula to forge papers, the Daily Journal story says.