Lawyer OK'd to handle Columbine cases - 6/8/00Shoels, Taylor families entitled to their choice of attorney, judge says.
High-profile Michigan lawyer Geoffrey Fieger can represent two Columbine families in their lawsuits against the Jefferson County sheriff's department and others, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Fieger will represent the families of Columbine victims Isaiah Shoels and Mark Taylor.
Some defendants had objected to Fieger's admission to practice in Colorado because of his actions in the Shoels case and pending disciplinary action against him in Michigan.
The parents of Columbine gunman Eric Harris had asked a judge to bar attorney Geoffrey Fieger from representing Isaiah Shoels' family, saying he tried to prejudice future jurors through accusations of racism.
Jefferson County District Judge Brooke Jackson said Fieger's Michigan license has not been suspended or revoked, and he remains in good standing with the Michigan bar.
Jackson said he didn't "condone" Fieger's actions in the Shoels case, but felt that the plaintiffs should be able to choose their attorney. He felt that it could not have unduly prejudiced future jurors because the case has already been highly publicized.
Granting an out-of-state lawyer's request to practice is up to the discretion of the judge. Fieger is licensed to practice in Michigan and needed Jackson's permission to represent Shoels' family in Colorado.
Witnesses have said Shoels, 18, was gunned down because he was black and an athlete.
Shoels' family sued the parents of Harris and Dylan Klebold, saying they negligently allowed their sons to amass the weapons used in the April 1999 rampage. Harris and Klebold killed 13 people before killing themselves.
Fieger came under attack for holding a news conference and distributing to media copies of a Shoels lawsuit filed last year against the parents of Columbine gunmen Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris that stated $250 million in damages was being sought.
Colorado rules prohibit the inclusion of dollar amounts in lawsuits and the copy filed in court did not include the amount.
"This court does not condone those actions," Jackson said. "If they were a planned effort to circumvent the rules and garner publicity for the Shoelses or Mr. Fieger, as it frankly appears, they represent conduct that is unbecoming and unacceptable."
The judge warned that he expects lawyers in the Columbine cases to conduct themselves according to Colorado rules and noted, "These cases will be difficult enough without sideshows."
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