Ohio Attorney Avoids Prison By Snitching

In 2006, federal law enforcement officials became suspicious that Frank Pignatelli of Akron, Ohio, was involved in drug trafficking. When confronted by agents and threatened with prosecution, Pignatelli did what many before have done: he agreed to be a snitch confidential informant.

What sets Pignatelli apart, though, is that Pignatelli is a criminal defense attorney, and he agreed to provide testimony against people who thought or would come to think that he was their attorney. One of his "clients" was sentenced last week to serve 15 years in prison.

Pignatelli could snitch on "clients" because when a client and his attorney conspire to commit an unlawful act, their communications are not privileged. So if Pignatelli was helping someone to set up drug transactions or to launder the monetary proceeds of such transactions, his conversations with his clients weren't protected by privilege.

Even though his conduct in revealing client confidences is technically permissible, as a defense attorney, I get an uneasy, nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach when thinking about what Pignatelli did. He sold out his clients to the government in order to help himself. He put his own interests above that of his clients: the opposite of what an attorney is supposed to do. That our government is rewarding him for doing so makes my unease grow even more.

Becoming a lawyer means being willing to protect someone else, even when doing so makes us uncomfortable. And as defense attorneys, our job is to be a check against the unrestrained exercise of government power. I know I've just described criminal defense as a more noble calling than it is generally portrayed or perceived, but often, our actions are the only things that will shield a citizen from the loss of his liberty (or his life). Pignatelli went from a restraint on the government's power to incarcerate people to an instrument of it.

Pignatelli's drug clients no doubt placed him in a "high-end" criminal defense practice--in other words, he was making a lot of money from his clients, many of whom he would ultimately sell out. But at the first sign of trouble, he handed them over to the government. His story stands in stark contrast to that of Beth Lewis, a Montgomery County public defender who just a few years ago risked a contempt conviction and jail to protect the confidences of a deceased client.

And the ultimate irony? Pignatelli, no doubt unable to find new get-of-jail-free cards clients in Ohio, has pulled up stakes and opened a criminal defense practice in Colorado, where he defends accused drug dealers.

Link: Beacon Journal (via Talkleft).

MusicNow 2009

Mike Breen of CityBeat has more great local music news with the Announcement of this year's MusicNow festival on March 11th and 12th. Only thing different this year is that the festival is two days on a Wednesday and Thursday, something a little different. It helps thought with other local events on that Friday and Saturday. I hope people come to town for the show, and then stay for the weekend. Like the Pomegranates CD Release event at the Southgate House on March 13th.

Cincinnati is King

King Records and Cincinnati were featured in this great NY Times article from Friday. I feel sometimes like a broken record (ouch), but King Records was so much one of the several birth places of Rock and Roll and has for too long been overlooked. Last year's CEAs at the Emery Theatre were a great start to remembering and building upon Cincinnati Music history and our really happening current music scene.

The Opportunity for OTR

Friday's Enquirer ran a pretty good article about the efforts to remake OTR from a rundown neighborhood into a thriving area which would be a model for urban revitalization in the country.

The article discusses some of the opposition, mostly those who fear displacement of the poor. When I write "poor" I don't mean those living in the DIC or squatting in an abandoned building. I mean people who legally have their own residence. The displacement of this group is the issue where criticism bears the most merit. Efforts need to be made to help anyone forced to move because of a building being rehabbed and turned into market rate living space. Those efforts should include relocation expenses up front to help people find a new place well ahead of their move. Efforts need to be made also to provide affordable apartments as well. The problem that remains is looking long term. So far most of the buildings that were in use for housing and remodeled were run down to nearly an uninhabitable state. Progress needs to be made and thorns (anti-development zealots) should not hold us back, but accommodations need to be made.

Pigall's Retains Four Star Status and Closes

Julie and the Enquirer report that Jean-Robert at Pigall's will close next month. It's somewhat ironic that the announcement comes on the same day Mobil announced that Jean Robert's would again receive four stars, the only restaurant in the state to achieve that honor. There had buzz for several months (including at Wine Me Dine Me, I believe) that something was amiss in the partnership that comprises the Jean-Robert Restaurant Group.

I will always be grateful that I was able to enjoy a meal at Pigall's (at someone else's expense, no less). I've eaten at good restaurants before, but there's something quite special about "fine dining." It's as if, for your entire life, the only music you heard was performed by high school bands and orchestras (and sure, some can be quite good, for high school kids). And then one day you're transported into a performance by the New York Philharmonic. Jean-Robert at Pigall's is simply a different league of cuisine. There's no point in comparing it to 99% of the other restaurants on the planet.

It appears that for the time being, M. de Cavel will remain in Cincinnati. One hopes that he'll try for another fine-dining restaurant in the future.

One also hopes a use will be found for the Pigall's building quite soon.

Zero Tolerance Makes Zero Sense

It turns out that in my post on Mason's school closings, I was right about two things: first, that the culprits were Mason students, and second, that law enforcement officials would over-react when they found someone they thought was responsible.

I was wrong, though, about the charges that could be brought: three Mason juveniles have been charged with disrupting public services, a fourth-degree felony. (The charge fits; this link will take you to the relevant statute.)

There was a time, not so long ago, when something like this would have been handled entirely by school officials. But not anymore. Zero tolerance means that we have to criminalize every act that bothers us, all the time. We also see this phenomenon in adult court all the time: sit in a municipal courtroom on any day and you're likely to see at least one person charged with "telephone harassment" because he or she said something (or texted something) to a significant other that the significant other didn't like. Is that really how we want to use the criminal courts' time?

So for a prank that caused a snow day but no permanent damage, three teenagers might be labeled convicted felons. (And for those who think juvenile crimes don't matter after you turn 18, you're sadly mistaken.)

And just to preempt any crazy commenters: I don't care that these kids are (probably) white and (obviously) suburban. If these were three kids from Hughes High School, I'd be advocating the same thing: let the school system handle it.

If I were in charge of the universe, I'd order these kids to serve a long school suspension--one day shy of whatever would cause them to fail every class for attendance reasons. I'd make them do a massive amount of community service, and then write some heinously long essay afterward on what they'd done and what they'd learned. And I'd probably ban them from any non-academic extracurricular activity for the rest of this year and all of next.

School discipline will impact the kids' ability to get into college. But a felony record? That will hamper them for years to come. It's unfortunate that our society has decided to handle so many situations by resorting to the criminal justice system. And I hope that at some point prior to the resolution of these cases, cooler heads will prevail.

Fries Cafe Willl Open Tonight

The Enquirer is reporting that Fries Cafe in Clifton will re-open tonight as scheduled after a fire caused $20,000 worth of damage.