Jack Thompson.NewsMax.com. Monday, Aug. 21, 2000
Word now comes from Miami that Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez's team of lawyers, headed by former Reno insider Kendall Coffey, is going to be honored next month for their efforts on behalf of the boy.
Family spokesman and publicist Armando Gutierrez has told Miami's El Nuevo Herald: "We want to have a public ceremony honoring the real heroes of the struggle for Elian."
In addition to Coffey, Miami lawyer Manny Diaz is set to be honored, as is Brett Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh filed the appellate brief for Elian. Previously he had served as a lawyer with Ken Starr, where he first began developing a good record of losing every case he touches.
"Real heroes?" This is the legal team that did the following:
1. Refused to allow Elian to have his own attorney separate from Team Coffey, even though Harvard law professor Alan Derschowitz led the national chorus of those who said Coffey could not represent both great uncle Lazaro and the boy because of clear conflicts of interest.
2. Failed to appeal a state judge's erroneous ruling that Elian was not entitled to a state custody hearing, despite legal experts' conclusions that such an appeal would likely meet with success.
3. Failed to raise key constitutional issues to the federal trial court in Miami, which failure, according to the state's leading immigration lawyer, "was a fatal mistake." This failure prevented Team Coffey from raising these constitutional issues to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
in Atlanta.
4. Failed even to argue to the 11th Circuit that the Easter Saturday raid was illegal, thereby surrendering the legal basis upon which Elian could be rescued from Greg Craig and the Cuban Interest Section goons.
5. Failed to spend any of the more than $200,000 in the Elian Legal Trust Fund, raised from contributions by primarily low-income families in Miami, on anything other than travel expenses. El Nuevo Herald reports that $100,000 of the money that was to be used for Elian sits in a bank, unspent.
It could have been used to hire nationally renowned attorneys who would have fought hard and well for Elian.
6. Failed to use legal proceedings to stall the case. Elian would still be on U.S. soil had Coffey and friends not agreed to an expedited legal process. Had they taken that course, Elian would have had a much better chance with the next administration come January 2001.
The above six items constitute only a partial listing of the ways Coffey and friends blew the case.
Clearly the legal team always wanted to appear to help the boy.
The facts are, at almost every turn, they did the wrong thing even when it was loudly stated as wrong by me and other legal experts.
It is difficult to decide which honoring of "real heroes" is more bizarre: The INS celebration last week for the stormtroopers who took the boy or this upcoming thank-you for those who pretended to be his protectors.
I hope that Uncle Lazaro and Marileysis have the good sense to avoid joining the festivities.
What's next for Armando Gutierrez? A party to honor, posthumously, the captain and crew of the Titanic?
These lawyers have no shame for having done what they did, and allowed this boy to be sent back to slavery so easily.
The real heroes of the Elian tragedy are the average Cuban Americans who assembled for weeks outside Camp Elian to pray, believing that American justice would serve the boy well.
They were wrong. Their hearts are broken. They will die with broken hearts.
Editor's Note: Jack Thompson covered the Elian controversy for NewsMax.com and predicted that Elian's legal team would only help to send the boy to Cuba. Read Jack Thompson's coverage here.
All Rights Reserved © NewsMax.com | 