The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece on the Denver attorney who is defending terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi against the legal might of government of the United States of America. Thirty-seven-year-old Art Folsom, half of a two-lawyer shop, generally handles cases of drunk driving, drug possession and divorce (“This law practice is sponsored by the letter D!”). He would appear to be in over his head, to about the same degree that the Titanic has taken on a little water, but he remains chipper as a Boy Scout and eager to keep fightin' the big case.
In a slight nod to sensibility, though, he’s added a co-counsel with a little more experience in federal court, generally for drug cases, the Journal says. Maybe that guy can give Folsom some advice—Art was apparently arrested recently for possession of a tiny amount of marijuana and, never mind claiming to not inhale, Folsom claimed he was holding it for a friend. If all of Folsom’s defense strategies are based on arguments that worked once when he was 15, expect his client, accused of being an al Quaida bomb-plotter, to argue not only that he was holding those 97 bags of fertilizer* for a friend, but that his dog ate his alibi, everyone else lets their kids blow up government buildings, he is not playing his music too loud, you can’t get pregnant the first time and besides he really, really loves you, and he would’ve called to say that he was going to be out after curfew, but his cell phone died.
Read the Journal’s profile here.
— Brian McDonough
* Legal Pad is making up facts of the case for humorous effect, and out of laziness.
listen, as the wsj accurately points out, the absolute hallmark of iac in criminal cases involves bringing the client in before he's charged with a crime and having him spill his guts:
Several lawyers expressed dismay that Mr. Folsom let Mr. Zazi talk to the FBI for what turned out to be a 28-hour interrogation over three days, with Mr. Folsom by his side.
That is IAC, right there.
Posted by: anon | September 28, 2009 at 02:57 PM