01 September 2011

in re: bryan white: ladb recommends reinstating attorney who didnt come-clean in judge ronald bodenheimer's al copeland shake down scam

UPDATE: 20 january 2012 state supremes readmit bryan m. white

via: shyster watchthe late, great, new orleans restauranteur, sportsman and businessman, al copeland, was going through a custody dispute with his ex-wife luan hunter.

mr. copeland was represented by robert lowe, esq., the lowe in the new orleans, divorce and business law firm of lowe, stein, hoffman, allweiss & hauver.

bryan white, esq., was some sort of private attorney/personal secretary to mr. copeland.

the judge in the case was one ronald bodenheimer and he was a crook (arent they all?).

so the judge and one of his shady cronies, a guy named phillip demma, contacted and began to pester mr. white with their plans to "shake down the copelands' companies."

this is the crazy part -- mr. white would apparently meet with the judge and his stooge to hear them out but "refused to further cooperate with judge bodenheimer and communicated to mr. demma that he would not provide judge bodenheimer what he wanted thus thwarting judge bodenheimer's plans."

this is the part we love -- unbeknownst to all of them, the fbi was already investigating judge bodenheimer!

so the fbi goes over to talk to mr. white and what he told them didnt add up to what they already knew -- that he knew.

so about eight months after he talked to the fbi he was indicted and eventually pled guilty to one count of violating 18 u.s.c. 4: misprison of a felony.

mr. white took his medicine and owned up to what he did. many witnesses who each knew a different aspect of mr. white's character and personality testified during his petition for readmission hearing that they believed that he had rehabilitated himself.

witnesses included: phillip a. wittmann, esq., a named partner in the stone pigman law firm, edward h. crosby, esq., a partner in the chaffe mccall law firm, jefferson parish, la. sheriff's office, chief deputy, craig taffaro, wiley mccormick, retired superintendent for the louisiana state police, richard chapman, president and ceo diversified foods, len brignac, esq., of the king, krebs & jurgens, law firm and orleans parish sheriff, marlin n. gusman.

the victim in all this, luan hunter, wrote two letters in support of mr. white's petition for readmission; so if she can forgive him, for herself and on behalf of her then minor children, who are we to complain about mr. white's prospective reinstatement?

several things dont make any sense, like for instance, the ladb writes that the rules of professional conduct -- at that time, prohibited mr. white from disclosing the information that the fbi wanted.

it seems that the rules being what they were that the attitude towards mr. white's actions would have been similar to a journalist going to jail to protect a source.

one bit of information that we learn from this document is that the rules of professional conduct do not apply when the fbi comes calling.

the best thing to do is to follow the advice of this law professor and "never talk to any police officer, under any circumstances." if you do though, you should come-clean and tell them what they want to know.

despite all that, we suppose that the moral of this story is that if you're an attorney and you have knowledge of a crooked judge -- you should immediately go to the fbi and report it -- because you never know who's listening; who's watching....