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| Jessica Medeiros Garrison and Luther Strange |
A demand letter from Birmingham attorney Bill Baxley, dated August 16, 2013, claims posts here at Legal Schnauzer about the Garrison/Strange affair are false and defamatory. (See copy of the demand letter at the end of this post.) I responded with an e-mail to Baxley, stating that the posts in question are neither false nor defamatory, and they will not be retracted.
Baxley does not specifically threaten a lawsuit, but that appears to be the point of the letter. He closes with this:
There is not a grain of truth to warrant the horrible defamation published by you regarding our client. Each has no factual basis. Your outrageous, despicable conduct will be addressed in another forum: the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama.
It's ironic that Baxley's letter emphasizes his concern about my reporting on Jessica Garrison's extramarital affair with Luther Strange when substantial evidence suggests he actually is concerned about something else. In fact, I suspect Baxley is concerned about one of two other stories that he has reason to know I am working on--and one of those stories has nothing to do with Jessica Garrison. (We will address this in a series of upcoming posts.)
In his letter, Baxley cites six posts about the Garrison/Strange affair--from July 17 to August 13, 2013--and claims they include material that is false and defamatory. States Baxley:
Our client has not "engaged in a long-running extramarital affair" with Luther Strange, has not engaged in sexual relations with Luther Strange. . . . We hereby demand retraction of these charges in the same medium of publication as these charges were originally promulgated and in a prominent position therein, and demand public retraction of these charges and matters published in as prominent and public a place or manner as the charges or matter published occupied, and demand a full and fair retraction of such charges or matters.
Baxley then turns to various reader statements about Garrison that have been published in the comment section at Legal Schnauzer. Baxley seems to hint that I am responsible for these statements when he says, "Your blog, Legal Schnauzer, states: 'Comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the blog author.'"
After highlighting about nine comments that he finds objectionable, Baxley states as follows:
Our client is not a whore, has no addiction to strangers, has no mental disorder, has had no sexual relationship with Luther Strange, has not allowed herself to be used sexually to advance herself in Alabama or the Republican Party, and has engaged in no financial arrangements for which anyone should be indicted. . . . We hereby demand retraction of these charges in the same medium of publication as these charges were originally promulgated and . . .
By the way, Montgomery Independent Editor and Publisher Bob Martin, one of the most experienced and respected journalists in the state, apparently does not believe my reporting on Luther Strange and Jessica Garrison is false. He cites my reports at his column in the paper's current edition.
Will Bill Baxley's bullying tactics be successful? No, they will not. Are they actually driven by concern about Jessica Garrison's affair with Luther Strange? I strongly suspect they are not, in part, because Bill Baxley is a well-connected fellow, and he likely knows my reporting on the affair is true.
So what is this really all about? We invite you to stay tuned.
Good job LS. What amazed me was the tone of the letter. Jessica must have been hard up to hire this idiot of a lawyer. More inbreed lawyers in the justice system. The part of the letter that had me laughing so hard was the "She's not a whore, etc." What professional lawyer in his right mind would make such a statement in a letter for his client? As you stated I think he has other motives.
ReplyDeleteBILL BAXLEY????? Is LUTHER SERIOUS????
ReplyDeleteBill Baxley is uniquely qualified to defend an adulterous politician who has used taxpayer money to do favors for his mistress.
In 1986, the Alabama media (apparently far more reliable in those days) reported that Bill Baxley - then the Lt. Governor of Alabama and the Democratic nominee for Governor - was using a state vehicle (with state-paid driver) to transport a 24-year-old reporter - Marie Pratt - to his residence, apparently to conduct an extramarital affair.
Baxley and Miss Pratt vehemently denied the report - as did Baxley's then-wife Lucy. The reporters were labeled as "liars" by the Baxleys and Miss Pratt.
Baxley lost the election. He and Lucy soon divorced. Baxley is now a lawyer in Birmingham who threatens people. And Marie Pratt? Ever wonder what became of her?
Ask Bill Baxley. He's been married to Marie Pratt since shortly after he and Lucy divorced.
LS, Luther & Co. appear to have soiled themselves when you started nosing around that Crestline house deal. I'll wager (if Bryan Taylor will not lose his lunch over that word)that the inquiries about how that house was purchased spurred this into high gear.
ReplyDeleteIf you notice, Baxley's people were in such a hurry to get this to you that they left an uncorrected typo in it (correcting it by using a pen on the paper) - not professional and showing how rushed this truly was.
LS, were you aware that Luther Strange critic RickeyStokesNews.com has recently stated that he "didn't believe" the Luther Strange/Jessica affair story because "someone I would trust with my life told me there was no affair"?
ReplyDeleteRickey Stokes News is all about Houston County/Dothan. Who ELSE is from Houston County/Dothan? Someone Rickey Stokes would "trust with his life"?
Bill Baxley told Rickey Stokes not to believe the Luther/Jessica affair story. You can bet your life on it.
If Bill Baxley is not only threatening you but going to Rickey Stokes to try to stamp out this story, you must be 1) right and 2)on to something huge that they must cover up at all costs.
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight, Republican girl gone bad, Jessica Garrison hires Bill Baxley faux democrat as tool to make Legal Schnauzer and all of his commentors withdraw their comments?
ReplyDeleteThis is funny. Just when you thought Bill Baxley had passed on, he rears his head once again to deal with a situation using his unorthodox, bull in a china shop tactics on a blogger who has the nerve to tell things as they are.
Bill, this one sounds like a freedom of speech situation,your defense doesn't match up with your liberal democratic past history but I guess this is what happens when an ex democrat crosses over and comes out of the closet as a republican
Old Proverb: "A bit dog yelps loudest."
ReplyDeleteLuther Strange: "Yip! YIP! YIPPPPP!!!!!!!"
This blog is nothing more than Stan Pate of Tuscaloosa feeding Roger information to continue his personal revenge with public officials that he cannot buy! Roger is on his payroll, I have no doubt!
ReplyDeleteAmazing Luther's side hasn't attacked yet!
ReplyDeleteD.M.
From the "Florence Times-Daily", December 12, 1993:
ReplyDelete"Baxley's ex-wife, Lucy Baxley, said she plans to run for State Treasurer as a Democrat. She stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her then-husband Bill Baxley during the 1986 gubernatorial race as allegations surfaced that he was having an affair with Marie Pratt, a political writer at the time for the Associated Press, and that he was using a state-owned automobile to carry Pratt to and from his apartment. The Baxleys divorced soon after the 1986 election. Baxley married Pratt a few months later."
Oh boy, this is really getting fun now. Adding Bill Baxley as a character is priceless.
ReplyDeleteMr. Schnauzer:
ReplyDeleteYou clearly are landing punches where they hurt, against sleazebags who need to be punched. Rock on, brother!
"When people that act the same, hang out together. People that have the same morals often tend to group. ---------, it simply means when people act the same, they normally hang out. Like a clique".
ReplyDeleteUrban Dictionary: Birds of a feather..
I believe you are on target, @7:40, about the Ricky Stokes News article. I will be writing about it soon. If Bill Baxley wasn't Mr. Stokes' trusted source, then it could have been Wade Baxley or Hamp Baxley, both prominent lawyers in . . . Dothan.
ReplyDeleteJessica Garrison has horrible taste in men--and it keeps getting worse and worse.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great history lesson there, @8:47. I had forgotten about the Marie Prat incident. Glad Jessica Garrison helped bring it back up.
ReplyDeleteYou gave me an LOL in the morning, @8:17. It's much appreciated. Your "scoop" certainly is news to me. And I'm sure it's news to Stan Pate, too.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 8:17; sounds like Lee Garrison speaking out on behalf of his wife. Stan Pate feeding Legal Schnauzer information? Sounds a little paranoid to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to become a ticket broker and rent out Bryant-Denny Stadium for this battle.
ReplyDelete"Bill Baxley v. Legal Schnauzer" will sell tons of tickets.
Rolling Stones will be the opening act!
Here is what I have to say: Once an Adulterer, always an adulterer. Rats travel in packs also. Jessica is going to keep sleeping her way to the top and tall men are going to keep sleeping with her. By the way, has anyone ever noticed that Republicans like to talk about how well their mothers raised them but sleeping around with women who shore them up on the campaign trail is just standard practice and everyone should play the pretend game along with them?
ReplyDeleteFor those of you interested in news about Lee Garrison, please check back with the blog a little after 11 a.m. today. We will be breaking a probing story about Lee G and Tuscaloosa politics.
ReplyDeleteBill Baxley getting involved with a story about marital infidelity? This is too good to be true.
ReplyDeleteAt his advanced age, Bill apparently has lost his sense of irony.
Stan Pate, how did he get into the conversation? and by the way is he the only person who buys his way into politics or business deals in Alabama?
ReplyDeleteBill Baxley must assume we all are stupid if he thinks we can't figure out where Rickey Stokes got his information
ReplyDeleteBe careful there, @9:16, you are going to get LS sued for not moderating out your unpleasant comment about Ms. Jessica.
ReplyDeleteI think Marie Prat taught Bill everything he knows about media law. Maybe she provided instruction while he was shagging her in a drunken stupor.
ReplyDeleteNow this sure as heck is interesting:
ReplyDelete"It's ironic that Baxley's letter emphasizes his concern about my reporting on Jessica Garrison's extramarital affair with Luther Strange when substantial evidence suggests he actually is concerned about something else. In fact, I suspect Baxley is concerned about one of two other stories that he has reason to know I am working on--and one of those stories has nothing to do with Jessica Garrison."
You can be honest with us, Schnauzer. You paid your Democrat friend Bill Baxley to write this letter in order to boost your audience, right?
ReplyDeleteHah! Good one, @9:37. Bill Baxley and I as friends is a knee slapper. As if a "Democrat friend" in Alabama would do you much good anyway.
ReplyDeleteHar, har.
I couldn't help but notice Baxley's letter was dated a day after the Montgomery Independent article came out discussing the affair. Probably for the first time the affair was in a newspaper and Jessica was feeling desperate.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Bill Baxley get arrested with a hooker in Montgomery one time, or am I thinking of some other low-life politician?
ReplyDeleteRickey Stokes is pretty gullible. The Baxleys reeled him in--hook, line and sinker--on this one.
ReplyDeleteLS - you have been called a liar by BILL BAXLEY and ROB RILEY.
ReplyDeleteI will never ever doubt a single thing you say ever agin.
Good point, @9:39. Bob Martin wrote about the affair in last week's edition of the Independent. That probably didn't make Jessica's day--or Luther's.
ReplyDelete"In 1986, the Alabama media (apparently far more reliable in those days) reported that Bill Baxley - then the Lt. Governor of Alabama and the Democratic nominee for Governor - was using a state vehicle (with state-paid driver) to transport a 24-year-old reporter - Marie Pratt - to his residence, apparently to conduct an extramarital affair."
ReplyDeleteThe political reporters are "embedded" with the politicians, that's why we are in this mess.
Rickey Stokes must think we are stupid, too, @9:23.
ReplyDeleteDoes Bill Baxley stay off the bottle long enough to practice law these days?
ReplyDeleteBill Baxley is desperately attempting to put the genie back in the bottle.
ReplyDeleteFailing that, he'll get the Jack Daniels OUT of the bottle.
Thanks, @9:53. I guess that does make my credibility rock solid at this point!
ReplyDeleteThe Schnauzer strikes blogging gold!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, @9:13, but Bryant-Denny is Baxley's home turf. It needs to be at Legion Field, a neutral site. Might have to take this extravaganza to the Georgia Dome.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Jessica Garrison is in the same seat that Bill Baxley occupied so many years ago--vehemently denying reports about an affair that are true.
ReplyDeleteBaxley desperately needs some attention. What better way to get it than by going after one of the few real journalists left in Alabama?
ReplyDeleteOnly vermin and roaches behave the way the word non master has.
ReplyDeleteLegal Schnauzer, these freaks of nature do not stop.
Have you pulled your wife's and your credit report [CR]? How long ago?
The CR became the new order of how to make us not have 'money'.
The CR is a ticket for the filthy humans that got together in the early days, beginning heavy locked and loaded in the 1990s, after the BIG take down of the Savings and Loan in 1980s.
Think ENRON WORLDCOM and name a FRAUD the USA isn't.
>>EG: This blog is nothing more than Stan Pate of Tuscaloosa feeding Roger information to continue his personal revenge with public officials that he cannot buy! Roger is on his payroll, I have no doubt!<<
PUBLIC OFFICIALS CAN'T BE BOUGHT SO THEY'RE DISINFECTED IN LIGHT?!
Let US be clear with the "Public Official" IMAGE/s.
CR haves with credit scores that get to purchase magic digits to act like complete and utter idiots.
The CR was institutionalized FRAUD because it set-up an entire PUBLIC TROUGH that is so over-flowing with slop that feeds the sloppiest of the LORD OF THE FLIES, that pretend to be Alabama 'law'.
IT is an electronic BINGO of nothing more than the most ignorant of the American 'spirit'.
IT is the credit score that decides whether we get to have as much 'money' as the digital idiots that get as much 'money' as the Rothschilds, Lazards, Kuhns, Loebs, Warburgs, Lehmans, Goldmans, Rockefellers-CLINTONS, pay the ROACHES IN ROBES and all the PUBLIC TROUGH CR SERVANTS, to bring Palestinian hell into the CRIMINALLY FRAUD USA.
MURPH'S LAW is MURPHY'S SPIRIT and the Public Trough Slop Carriers and Slop, aren't fit for human consumption no matter what century of IT.
Rickey Stokes owes you an apology, LS!
ReplyDeleteBill Baxley claims it's a crime for a reporter to seek comment from Jessica Garrison, who ran a statewide political campaign and is an official with RAGA?
ReplyDeleteBill, you have to be kidding me!
Kind of interesting (not really) that "Anti-Gambling" Luther Strange hires high-rolling Vegas Gambler Bill Baxley to try to threaten political enemies. Here's a nice news article about the time a Vegas Casino accused Bill Baxley of cheating:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19740806&id=IUYgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RZwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7316,1392287
Rickey Stokes is going to wind up looking like a sap on this one.
ReplyDeleteBaxley should know better. He has enough secrets he doesn't want to come "out." How can I send you a tip on something else?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that URL, @10:14.
ReplyDeleteIt's to a 1974 article that readers are likely to find very interesting. Author compares Bill Baxley's Las Vegas ties to Kennedy and Chappaquiddick.
@10:20, my private e-mail is rshuler3156@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteLS, you are holding out on us. I happen to know that you and Bill Baxley HAVE had a confrontation on this issue, and the following video records that epic meeting:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfeHKGvcEUg
A classic scene, @10:23. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCoyote Lane has the point LS.
ReplyDeleteThe Credit Report was a very crafty tool for the criminals to get into the system.
Your Credit Report is how the 'money' gets to be 'distributed'.
How did this happen? How did a Credit Report become the way that the "Public Servants" get to be in positions of serious bureaucratic power to hire lawyers to stalk the site of the best Journalist in the South, and possible at the top of the Journalistic Person-hood?
"Public Servants" are those that get to "have digits automatically".
And Public Servants serve the owners of the digital 'money' that is only for those with credit scores that are instutionalized fraud at best.
The Journalist great enough to expose the whole sordid truth from the Robed Roaches as "Supreme" human filth down the ladder to Alabama infested with the most vile evil.
Digits endlessly seeping into the public servants' ways and means to behave just like the worst of the species that are supreme pedophiles, too.
Interesting how your work has the PUBLIC SERVANTS trembling in the TRUTH IN JUSTICE, those that are obviously bribed by the PEDOPHILE CULTISTS, the owners of the 'digital dust' and gee, golly, the MURPHY SPIRIT has not the digital credit FRAUD, to be wallowing in the trough with the NEEDY GREEDY BRAIN DEAD.
Your work is the FIRE IN THE BELLY which Americans must have to get our 'money' out of the pedophile trough of public servants.
Get your Credit Reports and go for the damages in your Credit Scores, the winners in the 'fight' for our 'right' to have 'money' just like all the 'Public Servants'', are up into the 20 millions for damages to the "Americans' credit".
Thank you LS and sue for credit damages: why we can't compete with the bureaucrats that can't do what they do unless they have credit and that is apartheid in the system of Alabama, too!
You have good eyesight, @6:50. I didn't notice that typo on first reading.
ReplyDeleteI think there is more to Jessica's newfound relationship with Bill Baxley than meets the eye. Maybe she has decided to cheat on Luther and Bill is cheating on Marie. If they are in fact in bed together I guess that proves the truth in the old political axiom - Politics makes strange bedfellows! You should send them both demand letters seeking the truth.
ReplyDeleteAbout the stories in the B'ham news about Bill and Marie. The driver of the state car was an Alabama State Trooper. Theeditor of the paper, named Jakeman, assigned more reporters and photographers than any other story during his tenure. If LS could find the clipping file you could write several posts. You could even send Baxley a demand letter seeking comments.
Baxley's College roommate once told a group of us during Baxley's failed campaign for governor that after long nights of drinking Bill would put a bottle of beer in his back pocket, stagger to his dorm room and put the bottle on the night stand so he could have one in the morning before heading to class.
Either Baxley was drunk when he wrote this silly letter or JMG "borrowed" some letterhead....."she is not a whore" for the love of all things holy, yes she is! Only a female would say something silly like that!
ReplyDeleteThe irony is thick...does Baxley not understand what a Google search for: bill baxley marie prat generates????
ReplyDeleteThe crimson tribe, in all its arrogance, has reared it head yet again. These people are incorrigible.
Uh oh, I sense a taskforce raid on LS's house... the dishwasher may look too much like a slot machine. Better be safe and confiscate all the computers as well. You laugh...
ReplyDeleteIt would be equally interesting to know who were the others accompanying Bill Baxley during his many visits to Las Vegas? Has that information ever been made public, obviously someone must know!
ReplyDeleteTypo typo everywhere,
ReplyDeleteobviously typist didn't care,
written in too much haste,
exposed professionalism taste,
these are serious matters,
causing to surface additional chatters,
Way past time public know,
The more clique caused to talk will exposed truths flow.
,
Ominous clouds unseen gather,
Standing before public confident good weather.
Does anyone have a link to the article in the Montgomery Independent?
ReplyDeleteHere is the URL to the Montgomery Independent article, at my Scribd page:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scribd.com/doc/161755834/Bob-Martin-Article
Also, I just put it up at my Facebook and Twitter feeds, and here in a minute, I will update this post to include a link to the article.
A lawyer actually wrote his client wasn't a whore?????????
ReplyDeleteO.K. I did read it correctly. Some one paid the guy to write a letter like that? They should get their money back.
If they had been smart, o.k. not so possible, they would have ignored it all. Once you give a response, you give crediance to the "event". Obviously these boys don't know much about p.r. Oh and haven't they heard about the right to free speach. As long as it is an honestly held opinion, that lawyer and his client are going to hve problems.
This is better than the novel I was reading, Thank you Legal S.
I have no idea whether the charges of an extramarital affair are true or not, and I really don't care, but the fact that you think Bob "McGregor's Stooge" Martin is a reputable journalist says everything one needs to know about your own credibility.
ReplyDeleteI'm lost. What exactly does Baxley's extramarital affair have to do with the truth of the charges involving Strange and Garrison, and how is that a defense for Legal Schnauzer?
ReplyDeleteWell ONE thing about this whole situation is IF they sue you.. There will have to be DNA tests to prove this is not true and I am willing to bet a penis nose this is not going to happen. DANA DOES NOT LIE (DNA) AND I'd make sure my lawyer swabbed the parties IN THE COURTROOM and hand deliver the test and watch it be tested. Unless you want someone else mouth swabbed.
ReplyDeleteAlabama Public Television (APT) has included Bob Martin on its panel of journalists many times, so I assume the station considers him to be a reputable journalist.
ReplyDelete