Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Brewington's Case Gets National Attention
A respected legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, has weighed in on Dan's case concerning the recent Indiana Appellate Court decision upholding the charge of intimidating a judge. link to the article
Monday, January 21, 2013
Eagle News Reports on Brewington Appellate Decision
Eagle News Reports on Brewington Decision
Last Updated: January 21, 2013 8:24:16 am
The entire article is below but you can also click on the address below.
The entire article is below but you can also click on the address below.
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Dan Brewington
file photo
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Dan Brewington took to the Internet to
voice his displeasure with how Dearborn Circuit Court Judge James D. Humphrey
handled his 2008 divorce and child custody case. He also partly blamed court
appointed custody evaluator Dr. Edward Connor in the events chronicled at his Blogger site
and www.DanHelpsKids.com.
Brewington was eventually charged and
arrested for some of the jabs he wrote. During a 2011 jury trial presided over
by Judge Brian Hill from Rush County, the Cincinnati Ohio resident was
convicted of Intimidation of a Judge, Attempt to Commit Obstruction of Justice,
Perjury, and two lesser counts of Intimidation. Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor
Aaron Negangard had convinced jurors that Brewington’s criticism went beyond
political speech and crossed the line to “fighting words.”
Following the conviction, Brewington
appealed his conviction to the Indiana Court of Appeals, arguing five points:
the court allegedly abused its discretion by impaneling an anonymous jury, that
Hill erred by admitting a custody evaluation and a divorce decree into
evidence, the intimidation and obstruction of justice convictions were double
jeopardy, whether the evidence was sufficient for convictions, and that the
court’s final jury instructions were erroneous.
Oral arguments were held last November.
On Thursday, January 17, the Court of Appeals issued a ruling vacating
Brewington’s convictions for the two lesser intimidation charges. Those related
to Judge Humphrey’s wife, Heidi, and Dr. Connor. The Connor intimidation
conviction violated the double jeopardy rule, Judge Carr L. Darden wrote in the
decision.
“The jury instructions directed the
jury to consider the same evidentiary facts to support both convictions).
Consequently, both convictions cannot stand. When two convictions contravene
double jeopardy principles, ‘we vacate the conviction with less severe penal
consequences,’” Darden wrote.
The court also agreed with Brewington
that his urging blog readers to send letters about his case to Heidi Humphrey,
who serves as an Indiana Supreme Court Ethics and Professionalism Advisor, did
not cross the line to intimidation.
“He did not describe her in a negative
light or encourage anyone to do anything other than write letters to her, as a
purported public official, about his divorce case,” believed Darden. “Although
we do not condone Brewington’s unjustifiable and bad faith attempt to drag Mrs.
Humphrey into his divorce litigation, his actions in relation to Mrs. Humphrey
do not meet the definition of a threat for purposes of the intimidation
statute.”
Despite two of the five convictions
being thrown out, Prosecutor Negangard says he’s still pleased with the appeals
court decision that doesn’t alter the bottom line: Brewington’s time in prison.
“The Court of Appeals has affirmed the
decisions of the trial court. The only part that was reversed is of no
significance since the sentence has been upheld. It involves some complexities
that are unique to Indiana… …This is a victory for justice and our criminal
justice system,” Negangard said of the ruling.
With the help of his family, Brewington
has continued to blog from prison. He has entries on his blog site as recent as
January 6.
LINKS:
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Dearborn County, Indiana. Judge James D. Humphrey Publicly Announces That He is not Intimidated by Dan Brewington
Dearborn County Circuit Court Judge, James D. Humphrey, has publicly stated “The Judge, and his spouse, did in fact attend oral arguments before the Indiana Court of Appeals in the matter of State v. Brewington on November 21, 2012. This Judge felt it critically important to show that neither he, nor others involved in the legal system, will be intimidated from carrying out their duties in the administration of justice and enforcement of our Laws.” This quote is listed as #10 in Judge Humphrey’s Order, in a separate criminal matter, denying defense attorney Doug Garner’s motion to remove the Judge due to a bias in favor of Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard. Also note that Dan Brewington was never scheduled to attend this hearing in Indianapolis because he is serving a 5 year sentence at Putnamville Correctional Facility for intimidating Judge Humphrey, the judge's wife, and Ed Connor.
After participating in an 18 month investigation of Dan Brewington regarding the Intimidation charge, while continuing to rule on the Brewington divorce case, testifying at the grand jury proceedings, testifying at the Brewington trial and testifying at the sentencing hearing, Judge James D. Humphrey has publicly announced that he is in fact not intimidated by Dan Brewington. Brewington goes to prison for intimidating the Judge, the judge's wife, and Ed Connor and then Judge James D. Humphrey issues an order in the Lopez case saying that he “felt it critically important to show that neither he, nor others involved in the legal system, will be intimidated from carrying out their duties…” So how could Brewington be charged and convicted when the alleged victim claimed that he and others weren’t intimidated?
http://www.danbrewington.blogspot.com/2012/12/dan-brewingtons-case-was-cited-in.html December 5, 2012 Post about the Motion being filed.
http://www.eaglecountryonline.com/news.php?nID=4850 Story about Judge Humphrey denying the Motion.
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