Daryl Parks and Ben Crump spin the independent autopsy report that concluded Michael Brown was not running away, nor was the officer standing over him when he was shot.
The Ferguson riots damaged and destroyed millions of dollars worth of residential and commercial property, leaving many with no recourse to recover all they’ve lost. Sonny Dayan, who owns what is left of the STL Cordless cellphone store on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, is just one of these victims.
For 18 years, Sonny, a white man serving a black-dominated neighborhood, had been more than a cellphone salesman. By all accounts, he frequently absorbed losses in transactions in order to help poor members of the community buy products, and was repeatedly reassured that his business would not be harmed — again. In August, so-called protestors had looted the store, causing $15,000 in damage. Now, because of that recent claim, the insurance company will not be coming to Sonny’s rescue after rioters cleaned him out and destroyed his building.
“I know, I am a fool,” he said when asked why he didn’t board up his store. “I had faith in the community.”
Who is going to pay for the monetary and cultural damage these people have inflicted? For starters, how about the people responsible?
This is the second time Daryl Parks and Benjamin Crump have ruined countless lives in pursuit of upending our system of justice. Worse still, it is all done at the behest of a man who, on countless occasions, ruined countless lives without issuing so much as an apology — the false reverend Al Sharpton.
“You gain some experience,” Mr. Parks once said in an interview with the Tamp Bay Times. “You brainstorm. You use what works and you don’t stop.”
And to hell with your obligation to your oath, truth and true justice. The term “equal justice,” which is often used by both Mr. Parks and Mr. Crump, is an oxymoron. Justice, by definition, is applied in an equal, non-arbitrary nature. But that’s not really what this law firm is all about, as so elegantly stated by the head of their civil rights department.
“I have a greater duty beyond being an attorney and that’s to be a social engineer,” Ms. Jasmine Rand said following the Trayvon Martin verdict, which can be viewed by the readers below. “And when the law doesn’t get it right, I believe we have a right to peacefully and morally, conscientiously object to the decision of the jury.”
That’s a disgrace and an abject disregard for the system she, and others in the firm, have all sworn to uphold and defend. Unfortunately, we know that Mr. Parks and Mr. Crump agree with her wanting disregard for our justice system and the rule of law by their own past comments.
“We need to fight first in the court of public opinion,” Mr. Crump once said when asked about the jury system. “The jury is the American people.”
And, again, to hell with the actual facts of the case or the lives destroyed by their lies.
Mob mentality and mob justice are not only diametrically opposed to true justice, but are its enemy. Parks and Crump apologized for her disgusting comments in public, but characterized her display and blatant disregard for our system of laws as a “self-sacrifice” on their website.
What about the self-sacrifice of the jury in the Trayvon Martin case, or of the grand jurors in the Michael Brown case?
Instead of state bar associations giving the two partners of Parks & Crump Attorneys at Law an award, such as the Florida Bar, who presented them with the Henry Latimer Diversity Award at the annual Florida Bar Convention following the phony Trayvon Martin case, they should disbar them.
While disbarment is specific to regions — a lawyer can be disbarred from some courts, while still being a member of the bar in another jurisdiction — under the American Bar Association’s Model Rules, which have been adopted in most states, disbarment in one state or court is grounds for disbarment in a jurisdiction that has adopted the Model Rules. As of 2009, 49 U.S. states have adopted the rules in whole or in part, of which the most recent to do so was Maine.
According to Florida’s Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, which include grounds for disbarment, Mr. Parks and Mr. Crump have violated — at least — the following:
5.1 FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PERSONAL INTEGRITY
- (b) Disbarment is appropriate if and when a lawyer engages in serious criminal conduct, a necessary element of which includes intentional interference with the administration of justice, false swearing, misrepresentation, fraud, extortion, misappropriation, or theft; or
- (f) a lawyer engages in any other intentional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation that seriously adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness to practice.
In both the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases, Mr. Parks and Mr. Crump — in the name of needing to “first fight in the court of public opinion” — knowingly lied about the events of the tragedies in order to incite anger and garner support. They continued to lie to law enforcement, courts, supporters and media despite private autopsy reports and grand jury evidence to the contrary. And, as the standard says, any lawyer who conducts such behavior “has violated one of the most basic professional obligations to the public, the pledge to maintain personal honesty and integrity.”
However, in the case of Mr. Crump, which will be outlined further in 6.1, he has given false statements, perpetuated a fraud and misrepresented his relationship, knowledge of, and communication with witnesses to both law enforcement officials and the court in sworn affidavits.
5.2 FAILURE TO MAINTAIN THE PUBLIC TRUST
- 5.21 Disbarment is appropriate when a lawyer in an official or governmental position knowingly misuses the position with the intent to obtain a significant benefit or advantage for himself or another, or with the intent to cause serious or potentially serious injury to a party or to the integrity of the legal process.
Where do we begin? For their work in the Trayvon Martin case, Parks & Crump received — and continues to receive — large sums of money from so-called civil rights activists to work on targeted civil rights cases. The entire legal process was injured if not discredited altogether in the state of Florida when — despite a preponderance of evidence to suggest they made the right call — law enforcement and district prosecutors were dismissed without due cause and replaced by a special prosecutor. Mr. Parks and Mr. Crump both pressured Angela Cory to withhold evidence from the jury, which prompted liberal Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz to call for her disbarment.
6.1 FALSE STATEMENTS, FRAUD, AND MISREPRESENTATION
- (a) Disbarment is appropriate when a lawyer, with the intent to deceive the court, knowingly makes a false statement or submits a false document; or
- (b) improperly withholds material information, and causes serious or potentially serious injury to a party, or causes a significant or potentially significant adverse effect on the legal proceeding.
When he filed an affidavit during the Trayvon Martin case, Benjamin Crump either lied on the document or to media about speaking to witness #8, or “Dee Dee,” who was Trayvon Martin’s alleged girlfriend. Law enforcement already suspected he had lied to them and the court, but could do nothing because of the political pressure.
Either way, at best, his actions warrant a “failure to maintain personal integrity” and are grounds for disbarment.
6.3 IMPROPER COMMUNICATIONS WITH INDIVIDUALS IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM
- (a) Disbarment is appropriate when a lawyer intentionally directly or indirectly tampers with a witness; or
- (b) makes an unauthorized ex parte communication with a judge or juror with intent to affect the outcome of the proceeding.
It is hardly worth repeating Mr. Crump’s 6.1 violations, but it is worth noting witness testimony in the grand jury proceedings. Multiple witness, who recanted their statements that previously claimed Darren Wilson either shot Michael Brown when his hands were up or standing over his already fallen body, said they were told to give the false account. Yet, no one in the media or in law enforcement has asked them who, in fact, told them to lie about the events of the shooting.
The answer would seem self-evident, particularly considering it is Mr. Parks and Mr. Crump who have repeatedly cited what is known to be discredited testimony, and they stand to benefit from those lies.
Daryl Parks, Benjamin Crump, and the so-called reverend Al Sharpton gather for a rally alongside members of the New Black Panther Party. (Photo: Conservative Tree House)
As for the false reverend Al Sharpton, his inflammatory rhetoric has been well-documented. And anyone who has heard it, knows it more than qualifies under 18 U.S.C. § 2101, which reads as follows:
(a) Whoever travels in interstate or foreign commerce or uses any facility of interstate or foreign commerce, including, but not limited to, the mail, telegraph, telephone, radio, or television, with intent – (1) to incite a riot; or (2) to organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on a riot; or (3) to commit any act of violence in furtherance of a riot; or (4) to aid or abet any person in inciting or participating in or carrying on a riot or committing any act of violence in furtherance of a riot; and who either during the course of any such travel or use or thereafter performs or attempts to perform any other overt act for any purpose specified in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of this paragraph – (!1) Shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
While Al Sharpton sadly operates under the umbrella of the Obama administration and the outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, Mr. Parks and Crump have no such direct protection. As one of Florida’s leading Internet media voices, we, the Editorial Board at People’s Pundit Daily, call on the Florida Bar Association to begin the necessary proceedings to disbar Mr. Parks and Mr. Crump.
To newly reelected Gov. Rick Scott, whom this editorial board recently endorsed, we further call on you to push back against the cultural and systemic, multimillion dollar grievance industry that has been allowed to wreak havoc on the good tax-paying people of our state, and our system of laws. It was from the governor’s mansion — under former governor Charlie Crist — that due pressure was placed on the state to dole out over $7.4 million in city and state wrongful deaths lawsuits filed by Parks and Crump. It is from the same mansion we expect pressure for this action to commence.
