Re: [Peace-discuss] Patrick Thompson Wins Small Claims Case Against “Ineffective” Attorney Harvey Welch
Jenifer Cartwright
jencart13 at yahoo.com
Thu Aug 28 10:01:27 CDT 2008
Yes!! Occasionally we win one!!!
--Jenifer
--- On Thu, 8/28/08, Karen Medina <kmedina at illinois.edu> wrote:
From: Karen Medina <kmedina at illinois.edu>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Patrick Thompson Wins Small Claims Case Against “Ineffective” Attorney Harvey Welch
To: "Brian Dolinar" <briandolinar at gmail.com>, announce at communitycourtwatch.org, "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, stop at iresist.org, "jude redwood" <redwoodlaw42 at hotmail.com>, "Ruth Wyman" <rewyman at hotmail.com>, "Adam Schwartz" <aschwartz at aclu-il.org>, "Carol Spindel" <cspindel at uiuc.edu>, "Esther Patt" <estherpatt at hotmail.com>, "Giraldo Rosales" <grosales at nitrogendesign.com>, "Melodye Rosales" <melodye at nitrogendesign.com>, "Imani Bazzell" <thinkandfeel at gmail.com>, cdbenson at uiuc.edu, "William Patterson" <wmpatter at uiuc.edu>, "Sky Opila" <sky.opila at gmail.com>, "Ryann Hubbard" <rhubbard at sbgnet.com>
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 9:59 AM
Congratulations to Patrick! Hooray!
-karen medina
> In a small claims case local black activist Patrick
> Thompson filed against his former attorney, Harvey
> Welch, a judge decided that legal malpractice had
> been committed and ruled in Thompson's favor.
> Thompson filed the suit pro se, arguing his own
> case, while Welch was represented by Urbana attorney
> David Rumley. The $3,000 in attorney fees that Welch
> must pay back, Thompson says he is donating to
> Champaign Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice, who
> helped raise funds for his legal defense.
>
> Thompson had hired Welch to defend him against
> charges of sexual abuse and home invasion in a trial
> that took place in 2006. After Welch called only one
> witness, Thompson was found guilty. Dropping Welch,
> Thompson hired two new attorneys, Bob Kirchner and
> Ruth Wyman, who filed a post-trial motion to reverse
> the guilty verdict. In a rare courtroom decision,
> Judge Harry Clem found that Welch had provided
> "ineffective assistance of counsel" and granted
> Thompson a new trial. This last May, with legal
> counsel provided by Kirchner and Wyman, a jury found
> Thompson not guilty of the criminal charges.
>
> Last year, Thompson filed a small claims suit
> against Welch for return of the $3,000 he had paid
> him in attorney fees. The key piece of evidence
> Thompson submitted was Judge Clem's ruling that
> Welch provided ineffective counsel. After he was
> found not guilty, Thompson also entered this as
> further evidence.
>
> On August 25, 2008, Judge Holly Clemons ruled in
> favor of Thompson. In order to determine legal
> malpractice in a civil suit, Thompson had to prove
> that he would have been proven innocent beyond a
> preponderance of evidence. This was accomplished,
> Judge Clemons ruled, when Thompson was acquitted in
> the May 2008 trial.
>
> Harvey Welch works as a Public Defender in Ford
> County, but is based in Urbana and takes numerous
> cases in Champaign County. Welch handles hundreds of
> cases each year, and has been in practice since
> 1980. One must wonder how many of Welch's clients
> have been found guilty because of his incompetence.
>
> This small claims case sets an important legal
> precedent in Illinois for other individuals wrongly
> convicted if their decisions are reversed due to
> ineffective counsel. As Judge Clemons herself
> admitted, this case was "a rather unusual
> situation." A similar case at the Champaign County
> courthouse is unheard of in recent memory.
>
> Welch is ordered to pay back $3,000 to Thompson, as
> well as cover the cost of court fees.
>
> When asked, Rumley would not confirm or deny that he
> would appeal the decision. Welch himself was not
> present for the final ruling.
>
> Also absent were any other members of the local
> media. Incidentally, at the same time as Thompson's
> small claims case, the verdict was being announced
> for Robert Arnette, who was found guilty of
> murdering his wife. After reading of the verdict, I
> spoke to several members of the local press at the
> courthouse about the significance of Thompson's
> victory in small claims court. Caught up in the
> frenzy of a murder case, none of them were
> interested in covering Thompson's case. The
> News-Gazette's Mary Schenk had been notified about
> past hearings in the small claims case, but not once
> did she show up.
>
> BD
> --
> Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
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