If you thought the legal defense team from Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHACH) couldn’t sink any lower after doxing Juror #1 and his wife, think again. Howard Hunter of Hill, Ward, Henderson law firm filed the most despicable motion many of us have ever seen on Thursday. This one accuses the much-maligned Juror #1 of sending coded Nazi signals in his notes to the jury. I wish I was joking.
“An excerpt from the website of the Simon Wiesenthal Center documenting the appearance of a uniform badge of the Nazi German Schutzstaffel, or 'SS,' is attached as Exhibit B. It will be noted that in Exhibit A, Juror Number 1 has printed the letter 'S' throughout the note normally, with a curve in the spine, EXCEPT that he printed his 'S' with sharp angles when printing Dr. Sally Smith's name. Both the second and third times that Juror No. 1 prints Dr. Sally Smith's name, the letter 'S' is shaped in a manner identical to the symbol of the Nazi Schutzstaffel exhibited in Exhibit B.”
Here's the note they claim is "Nazi" adjacent. pic.twitter.com/VVJO3wNbcQ
— Megan Fox (@MeganFoxWriter) December 8, 2023
The ridiculous motion continued, “Juror No. 1's reference to Dr. Sally Smith with the use of Nazi symbolism demonstrates a clear bias, prejudice and prejudgment against her and thus Defendant in the above-styled cause, and demonstrates an additional basis upon which Defendant's Motion for New Trial Based on Juror Misconduct… should be granted.”
Plaintiff’s attorney Greg Anderson was interviewed on Dr. Joe Corcoran’s new YouTube channel on Thursday afternoon and addressed the allegations. “They accused Juror #1 of being a Nazi,” said Anderson. “The contention is that because this poor man, when he writes an 'S' he flattens the top and bottom of them like a lot of people do--that he’s with them and somehow he’s supporting [Nazis],” said Anderson. “It’s despicable! Who does this?”
JHACH attorneys do.
“All of these things are designed to provoke a response from [Juror #1]," continued Anderson. "They don’t have anything on him. The first motion to disqualify was laughable. This latest one tells me that knowing they have nothing there they have to make something there. They can say the most outlandish thing they possibly can imagine. That’s going to provoke Juror #1 into saying something or doing something in denial of this or to defend himself that’s going to give them more of a basis to attack him. That’s their basis for doing this.”
Anderson then addressed the idea that the defense alleged the juror may have equated Dr. Smith to a Nazi.
“Even if he felt like that, that’s certainly a First Amendment right to feel like that and I’m sure if you got any of Sally Smith’s victims on your show to ask what they felt like I’m sure they might agree that they were abused in a manner that was above and beyond.”
The audience watching live asked Anderson if the juror could sue the defense or JHACH for defamation, and, sadly, the answer is no. “There’s a thing called litigation privilege,” Anderson said. “You can call each other any names you want as long as you can claim it has something to do with litigation then [the juror would be] barred from making the claim.”
What regular citizens (or, as JHACH would call them, “bus stop” people) would ever want to serve on a jury again if this defense team is allowed to get away with this level of juror harassment? According to Anderson, the remedy for the juror under attack is very limited. “In these circumstances, the remedy lies with the judge and the BAR. The juror can file a bar grievance…and we can file a motion to the court.”
But anyone who has ever filed a BAR grievance knows they more often than not end up in the garbage can. And while Judge Carroll did a good job staying neutral during the trial, he has been slow to hold JHACH accountable for several of his orders that they've ignored. The defense still has not turned over the documents relating to the "immediate jeopardy" finding that Judge Carroll ordered them to be turned over. In response, Carroll has done nothing so far. The odds of him holding JHACH accountable for their bad behavior seem to be dwindling. We will see what he does on December 15 at the next hearing.
You can see the full interview with Anderson at the link below.
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