Meet Dennis Hawver, one crazy bastard of a former defense lawyer. That’s him below:
As you can see above, Dennis is all dressed up, as he appears and argues before the Kansas Supreme Court, donning a powdered wig, an 18th century suit and long white stockings. Apparently Dennis opted to dress as his own personal hero, Thomas Jefferson (pictured below):
Apparently impersonating a forefather is not new to Dennis. Following is a pic of him, also dressed all TJ-esque, from 2006, when he was making a speech in support of his bid for being elected Governor of Kansas:
Anyhow, back to modern day (for us anyhow…), the Kansas Supreme Court recently disbarred Dennis finding that he had provided “ineffective assistance of counsel” to a one Philip Cheatham (pictured below), during a 2005 death penalty murder trial.
The Kansas Supreme Court determined that Dennis was ineffective on many grounds, including but not limited to: 1) During “voir dire” (jury selection) Dennis described his client not as “misunderstood” or “abused” or a “victim”, but, rather, as “a professional drug dealer” and as a “shooter of people”; 2) Failing to present evidence of his client’s alibi to prove that Philip was not in the city where the murder occurred at the time of the killing (later admitting to the Kansas Supreme Court that “I had no idea that cell phones had GPS capabilities at that time” ; and 3) Arguing to the jury in closing that they should execute the killer (his client). Needless to say the jury deliberated, convicted and recommended execution, which was ultimately overturned on appeal.
Not withstanding Hawver’s constitutional arguments that his acts and words on behalf of Cheatham were protected by the 1st Amendment and that Cheatham himself was protected by the 6th Amendment, the above-captioned Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court ruled (okay, not really, but the Kansas High State Court did rule on Friday, November 21st, 2014) that it was a “virtually inescapable conclusion” that Hawver failed to meet the State’s professional conduct code while representing Cheatham, and then yanked his ticket (disbarred and prohibited him from practicing law).
Hawver may not be much of either a Founding Father or a criminal defense lawyer but he can certainly roll with the punches. He lost his Gubernatorial bid, he also lost his race for Kansas Attorney General (thankfully for the Folks of Kansas) and now he’s lost his ability to practice law; but, per the former counselor, he had been planning on leaving the legal profession anyhow to “devote his time to grow vegetables in an aquaponics garden” (pictured above).
Memo to Dennis: He may not be a “Founding Father”, but by all accounts he was a pretty smart dude and an top-tier attorney, so take a little advise from Honest Abe:
While this obviously applies to you at your disbarment hearing it seems that your old pal Philip Cheatham might have done better taking his chances flying solo.
For more than 23 years Michael A. Haber, P.A. has been providing creative, effective and zealous advocacy and counsel in cases ranging from DUI to drug trafficking and from misdemeanors to first degree murder.
At Michael A. Haber, P.A. “Its all about reasonable doubt”!
Michael A. Haber, Esq. is prepared to speak with you about your case!
1-888-SHARK-8-1, 305-381-8686, 305-798-2220, **ARRESTED, **305DUI, **MIAMIDUI, **MIAMILAW or **HABERLAW.
Like @ www.facebook.com/haberpa / Follow @ http://habercriminallaw.blogspot.com / Call **ARRESTED / **305DUI
Posted in Uncategorized