Who's The Boss?

I suppose that it was inevitable that it would come to this. I saw it happenig in California with Ms. Harmon and Ms. Van Zandt. Now all the rats are fighting over the Karr piece of cheese. Harmon and Van Zandt got their hooks into him in California and they alledgedly have a contract to represent him in Colorado. Only problem is Harmon and Van Zandt need an "in" in Colorado. They need to have an attorney "sponsor" them in Colorado for this one case so that legally, their status as attorneys will be recognized in Colorado. Enter Rachel Cohen, a 29 year old Lafayette, Colorado woman who has only been an attorney since October of 2005.

Her choice as co-counsel seems curious at best, considering her lack of experience. But she is the one who contacted Harmon to be involved in the case which makes this bizarre case even more bizarre. Cohen, who works out of her home in Lafayette and has been a member of the Colorado Bar Association since October, said she initiated contact with Harmon to inquire about joining the case.

"I'm a younger attorney in town, and I had been following the case since it came back into the public light," said Cohen, who turns 30 next month. She is also pregnant and is due in January.

Cohen's entrance into the Ramsey case raised eyebrows on a number of veteran lawyers in the Boulder area. Denver defense lawyer and legal analyst Scott Robinson responded: "Rachel Cohen?"

Upon being briefed, Robinson said, "It's a volunteer virtual unknown deferring to volunteer virtual unknowns in a case where all three of them have injected themselves into a high-profile case. It's like a first-year intern doing a heart transplant."

And for whatever reason it seems to be an important factor that Cohen is a female.
"I like her passion," Harmon said of Cohen. "I like her intelligence. She's very experienced, even though she hasn't been a lawyer very long."

"She is a passionate little defender, and she's female, which is very important." Harmon wouldn't say why Cohen's gender is important. However, in cases involving alleged sexual assault by a male defendant, it is often seen as an advantage for the defendant to be seen in close company with a woman - think accused basketball star Kobe Bryant and local hotshot attorney Pamela Mackey - so as to make him seem less dangerous in the eyes of jurors. I don't see how that is possible given the absurdity of Karr and his actions in this case. But whatever..

Meanwhile the public defenders office seems to be doing a very credible job so far in Karr's defense. Office head and Deputy Public Defender Seth Temlin is a man possessed in his defense of Karr. He filed a flurry of breifs on Friday in the case. Two of the motions were key to get possible previous evidence excluded from the case.

The first of the two key motions was to halt DNA testing until the defense is notified of its purpose. The defense also argued that any previous collection of Karr's DNA would be illegally gained. Boulder District Judge Roxanne Bailin has not ruled.

Meanwhile, the Denver police lab confirmed Friday it has been asked to analyze DNA from Karr to see whether there is a match from fluid found on the underwear of JonBenet.

Karr was given a mouth-swab DNA test while he was in Thailand, a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation has told The Associated Press. The results of that test were not known.

Temin said if a DNA sample has been obtained from Karr "it was not obtained pursuant to applicable law, the constitutions or by valid consent." He suggested Karr would not provide any further samples without a court order.

"Biological evidence reveals highly private and sensitive information about a person," Temin wrote. "Mr. Karr's right to privacy can only be protected by giving him the opportunity to be heard on this issue prior to collection of a sample."

The second motion was suppress any handwriting from the public in the fear that it might taint a possible jury pool. He seems like a sharp guy, whereas Team Cali seems to fighting for scraps of meat. And it also seems that feathers are being ruffled between the two competing attorneys.


Now this is where it gets good. There is nothing better than a good old cat fight between attorneys, even if one them is a male.

"We are Mr. Karr's attorneys at this point," Temin said. "If he hires somebody else of his choosing who is a qualified Colorado attorney, that's up to him."

"My team is the Colorado State Public Defender's Office," Seth Temin said outside the county jail. "There will be no other attorneys that are not part of the public defender's system on this case."

But the two California lawyers, Patience Van Zandt and Jamie Harmon, say they're Karr's counsel. Told shortly after landing in Denver late Friday that the public defender said that Harmon and Van Zandt were off the case, Harmon said, "They can do whatever they want."
Asked if she believed that her involvement is over, Harmon said, "I can't talk about any of that."
She then added: "I talked to my client at 11 a.m., and I'm on my way to see him now."

This is the way I see things. It appears that Mr. Temin, toiling away on a civil servant's wages seems to have his clients best interests at heart. Whether or not we think John Mark Karr killed JonBenet Ramsey, I think that we have seen and heard enough about him to form an opinion. My opinion is that he is a repugnant little pedophile slug. But hey, that's just me. However, regardless of what I or you might think about him, our Constitution guarantees him a defense and as I said it appears as though Temin is serving his client's best interests.

Whereas Team Cali seems to want to make a name for themselves and are using this case as their conduit to achieve that goal. Ms. Harmon is hellbent on making a name for herself even if it means stepping on poor Ms. Cohen and more reprehensibly John Mark Karr. Let's take a look at some of her comments.

With respect to Ms. Cohen:

"She's going to assist us in any way she can, and she's going to help me get admitted (to the Colorado Bar Association)," said Harmon.

Harmon said it is not her intent to "brush her aside" and not allow Cohen a meaningful role in the case. However, she also said, "I've been an attorney for a long time, and I'm pretty good at it. She (Cohen) is completely aware of my experience levels. I have no intention of pushing her side, and she can be involved to the extent that she wants to be."

"Just because I don't know the specifics of your legal system in Colorado - and believe me I've been learning a lot more about it in the last 24 hours - that doesn't mean I'm going to let you take over. That's not going to happen."

And, she said, "I'm going to be the captain of the ship, and I don't think there's any question about that with anybody."

Doesn't exactly sound like a team player to me, more like Captain Kidd. Or perhaps even Captain Kangaroo. Those statements seem to me to sound more like someone who has their own best interests at heart and damn anyone who gets in her way.

Honestly it sounds to me like she wants to be the next Johnnie Cochran.

The one thing that we do know is who the attorneys for the prosecutors office will be:
The Boulder District Attorney's Office announced that assistant district attorneys Peter Maguire and Bill Nagel and investigator Tom Bennett would head the prosecution effort, along with District Attorney Mary Lacy.

The other legal manueverings on Friday were:

• Judge Roxanne Bailin, citing overwhelming publicity, issued a gag order that prohibits lawyers on either side from making comments that would harm the chances of a fair trial.
The lawyers can make no comments on Karr's character, his likelihood of guilt or on whether he failed or passed any tests, including DNA tests.

• Temin and the defense team asked that an application for indigency status for Karr be sealed, saying it contains his handwriting. If that sample were compared with the ransom note before trial, it could prejudice a fair trial, Temin said.

• The public defender asked for copies of all notes, investigative reports and other documents compiled by the prosecution.