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Lawyers acquitted of coaching witnesses to lie; case a 'scary attack' on defense bar, counsel says

A little over a year after the feds raided the law office of two Chicago defense attorneys, then charged them with perjury for allegedly coaching witnesses to lie, both have been acquitted by a federal judge at a bench trial.

Law partners Beau Brindley and Michael Thompson got the good news Monday, when U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber announced his verdicts, reports the Chicago Tribune (reg. req.)

During closing arguments, a lawyer for Thompson called the case a “scary attack on the defense bar,” contending that it should never have been brought. “Young lawyers are not going to practice defense law if they have to be afraid,” attorney Edward Genson told the judge.

The government had pointed to changing stories by the partners’ clients and question-and-answer scripts circulated in the law office. Clients had also testified in support of the feds—in exchange, the defense said, for hefty sentence reductions.

Brindley, in his testimony, said he got the idea of doing Q-and-A scripts by seeing prosecutors use them.

“Every trial lawyer who has ever tried a case uses a Q-and-A,” Genson said. “They make it sound like putting together a Q-and-A is something evil. It’s not evil. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

And it isn’t unusual either to see a witness’ story change, Brindley’s lawyer, Cynthia Giacchetti, told the judge. “The fact of the matter is people lie to their lawyers. The government bases its cases on witnesses who change their stories all the time. … They flip people 180 degrees every day.”

Brindley’s leg was shaking before the verdict but the judge’s announcement that none of the charges had been proven put a smile on his face, the Chicago Sun-Times (sub. req.) reports.

He later called Leinenweber’s verdict a victory for the criminal defense bar.

“I believe in this system,” Brindley said. “I believed in this system when I presented these cases. And I believed in this system when they wanted to present a case against me.”

Related coverage:

ABAJournal.com: “Feds expand case against defense lawyer charged with perjury, indict another attorney”

ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer goes on trial for allegedly coaching witnesses to lie; scripted Q-and-A cited”

ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer in federal perjury case takes stand, insists he didn’t coach witnesses to lie”