Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Borrowing A Phrase From Bill Baxley's Colorful Past, I Instruct The Infamous Attorney To "Kiss My Ass"


Jessica Medeiros Garrison
Alabama lawyer Bill Baxley has a lengthy history of erratic behavior, with numerous published reports about drinking, gambling, and womanizing. Perhaps Baxley's most infamous personal scandal involved his extramarital affair with an Associated Press reporter named Marie Prat.

On the legal side, Baxley might best be remembered for his reply, while Alabama attorney general, to a threatening letter he received in 1976 from a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Baxley's three-word response: "Kiss my ass."


I don't want to make a habit of copying anything from Bill Baxley's sordid playbook. But Baxley recently sent me a threatening letter on behalf of Jessica Medeiros Garrison, who has been the subject of several posts here at Legal Schnauzer about her long-running extramarital affair with current Attorney General Luther Strange. (Baxley's letter can be viewed at the end of this post.)


The August 19 letter is brief, but it includes such outrageous misstatements of fact and law that I thought it would be appropriate to borrow a page from Baxley's playbook for my response. I politely invited him to "kiss my ass."

I've already noted that a Baxley letter dated August 16 included a number of assertions that are off the charts. For example, he claimed that contacting his client to request an interview or invite comment on matters of public interest would constitute the crime of harassing communications.


Baxley's second letter might have been even more absurd. First, he claims that I am not a journalist under Alabama law and do not qualify for privileges enjoyed by journalists. Baxley cites no law to support that claim, and he apparently didn't bother to check my background before spouting off.


I have a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, which has the first journalism school that was established anywhere on the planet, and 35 years of professional experience. I was on staff as a reporter/editor for 11 years at the Birmingham Post-Herald and for 19 years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). I've lost track of how many newspapers and magazines have published my work.


Bill Baxley
It wasn't enough, however, for Baxley to present himself as clueless. He also had to come across as thuggish and ignorant. His letter closes with the claim that I had been "stalking" his client. 

Stalking has a very specific legal meaning. Under Alabama law, stalking is a crime, a felony that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The description of stalking can be found at Code of Alabama 13A-6-90, and here is the gist of it:


A person who intentionally and repeatedly follows or harasses another person and who makes a credible threat, either expressed or implied, with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily harm is guilty of the crime of stalking.

If Jessica Garrison has falsely stated to others that I have been stalking her, and Bill Baxley has repeated that information to others . . . well both client and lawyer are going to have some serious legal issues on their hands. 


Here is my full reply to Bill Baxley's latest communique:



Mr. Baxley:
To borrow a phrase you once used so eloquently . . . kiss my ass.
I have a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri (B.J., '78) and have more than 30 years of professional experience in the field, working for daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, a university publications office, and more. I've been a guest on radio and TV broadcasts, both locally and nationally. My blog has been named one of the top 50 law blogs in North America, and I've been interviewed on justice issues by media outlets from coast to coast. My work on Legal Schnauzer was cited before Congress in fall 2007 when the House Judiciary Committee investigated political prosecutions under the Bush Justice Department.
If I'm not a journalist under Alabama law, then I would like to know who is. I would suggest that you do a little research into my background before making yourself look like a fool again. 

Sincerely,

Roger Shuler

In the interest of brevity, I didn't address Baxley's stalking allegations in that reply. But you can rest assured that issue will be addressed shortly.

Bill Baxley Letter2 by Roger Shuler

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way to go LS.

Anonymous said...

I think Baxley has kicked a hornet's nest that would have better been left alone.

Anonymous said...

Baxley is accusing you of stalking Jessica Garrison? Because you requested an interview with her? The man has lost his mind.

Anonymous said...

Who is Jessica gazing at, with that angelic look on her face, in the photo? Perhaps it's . . . Big Luther.

Anonymous said...

Jessica comes across as a former sorority chick who doesn't have much in the way of morals or ethics, a lot like the sorority chicks who cast bogus votes in the Tuscaloosa election last week.

Anonymous said...

Bill hasn't lost his mind. It's just that his brain is pickled from too many visits with Jack Daniels.

Anonymous said...

LS, your response is spot on and fully appropriate to this situation. Bill Baxley once had something to offer, but he's now just an old, thuggish drunk, with the ethics of a grease spot.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Bill and Jessica got hooked up because of their joint connections to big-dollar gambling operations.

Anonymous said...

Loosely throwing around words like "stalking," which have serious legal meanings and implications, is not real smart on Bill's part.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Baxley caught with a hooker back during one of his political races. I seem to recall it was at a hotel in Montgomery and maybe was caught on film, pretty much sinking his campaign. Is that truth or urban legend?

Anonymous said...

Bill Baxley is a typical worthless Alabama Democrat. The guy actually had a chance at one time to help pull this state out of the muck. But he blew it because of his taste for, as you put it, "drinking, gambling, and womanizing." A horrible waste of genuine political talent.

Anonymous said...

I see several news orgs are 'gleefully' spouting that Garrison/Baxley have filed a lawsuit against you. Good luck.

DM

Anonymous said...

I think you have a point, @9:21. Baxley is notorious for his drunken escapades at Las Vegas blackjack tables. And Jessica, based on LS's reporting, has ties to a high-roller in an illegal offshore sports betting ring--and Erik Davis Harp lists his address as Las Vegas. Hmmmm.

Anonymous said...

LS, has Rickey Stokes ever publicly apologized and retracted that bogus piece that Bill Baxley planted at RSN about your reporting on the Jessica/Luther affair?

legalschnauzer said...

Not that I'm aware of, @9:37.

Anonymous said...

LS: If Baxley has sued you, that came after you reported on Jessica's business relationship with a man who has ties to Gambino/Genovese crime families correct?

legalschnauzer said...

I haven't seen a complaint, and I haven't been served with it, so I don't know about any dates that might correlate with my reporting on Erik Davis Harp and his ties to the Mafia. I do know, for sure, that I started hearing from Bill Baxley after I asked Jessica Garrison via email about her ties to Mr. Harp. Have a post coming on that soon.

Anonymous said...

Bill Baxley claims you aren't a journalist, but you have a degree in journalism and 35 years of professional experience? Mr. Baxley, you sir, are an idiot.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the important roles Old Grand-dad and Cutty Sark played in pickling Bill's brain. They deserve "credit," too, for his current state.

Anonymous said...

Here is what I don't understand. Bill Baxley has enough baggage to sink the Titantic. If Jessica Garrison was serious about this matter, why would she choose Baxley, out of all the attorneys in Alabama?

Anonymous said...

Any possibility that Bill Baxley is using this case to drum up some business for his new law firm- Baxley, Daniels, Beam & Thunderbird?

Anonymous said...

Great line, @10:22! I can't stop laughing.

Anonymous said...

I, too, can't figure out why Garrison would choose Bill Baxley, if she thinks she has a real defamation case. I mean, she works at Balch & Bingham, she did work at Phelps Jenkins in T-town, and she's close to Luther so she obviously could go with Bradley Arant. But Bill Baxley? WTF.

legalschnauzer said...

Jessica Garrison went with Bill Baxley for a very specific reason, and I know what it is. It has nothing to do with Luther Strange, and her affair with him. It's about something else altogether. Will be posting on this soon.

Anonymous said...

@ 9:31,
Im by no means making any accusations about Baxley but what you say is interesting if its fact. If it is true then one has to wonder the nature seeing as AL, Ga, Fla & Tn are huge sex trafficking participants! Makes me wonder if its true, what the age of the "hooker" was seeing as most of these trafficked males and females are children. Rumor has it that the folks running it are judges, attorneys & politicians. Its a fact that many prostitutes in these states are actually victims and beibg forced into these sex trafficking rings against their will. Just a little food for thought!

legalschnauzer said...

Here is URL to powerful video about the "sex trafficking superhighway" that runs through these states:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAUCXlUcQvI&feature=youtu.be

Anonymous said...

In the distance soon to appear, Murph's numbers yet unknown,
Additional finding of facts presented clear,
Multiple their voices various their tone,
They'll all have come together,
IN SUPPORT OF MURPH,
In a Jefferson County courtroom,
Not on a asstroturf.

Maybe largest participations of tax paying Alabama Citizens ever
for court records identified as
"AMERICUS CURIAE'.

Anonymous said...

@ 9:33 A.M. Could you please advise, if knowing, the media you're referring to, just should in the future circumstances present themselves that they should be contacted; although probably will never be such a situation arise.

Too, didn't someone post that there was an edition of "Girls of The SEC" that wasn't common knowledge that this individual had been a part of the photo shooting.
Does anyone know, or around about what date that was, if was in fact.

legalschnauzer said...

I'm pretty sure the comment about "Girls of the SEC" was a joke. I don't remember the exact wording, but I think it said Jessica's profile said her favorite men include Jimmy Durante and other famous figures who are known for having big noses. I think that was a play on the "Penis Nose" photo of Lee Garrison, so I'm pretty sure that was a joke. Just someone having fun.

As for the Baxley/prostitute story, I'm not sure about that one. I've heard stories along those lines, from people I consider to be credible sources, but I've never researched it in full.

One source told me that some sort of incident involving Baxley and a woman happened at the Diplomat Hotel in Montgomery, and this must have been in the late 70s or 80s. But again, not been able yet to separate fact from possible fiction.

Obviously, the reader who commented has heard some of the same stories.

Anonymous said...

"No it's never easy to stand alone, or buck the system".

"Even more troubling it seems as though we can no longer trust what we read in the newspaper, or take in on the network or cable news programs, because the deceit and corruptions have lately reached to the very institutions charged with watchdogging the public interest".
Former Ohio Congressman John Kasich
But now!

"For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither anything hid, that shall not be known and come abroad." Luke 8:17

MagginKat said...

I've been looking at pictures of these good old white boys of Alabama and have a question. Are you serious that a woman, any woman, had or is having an affair with either of those two creeps?

Anonymous said...

You say you haven't been contacted about the suit yet, but Ricky Stokes had a long column on it with pretty specific details. I am sure you read it and it's been several days ago. Wonder why you haven't received any type of legal notification?

Anonymous said...

when people can be programmed to be not healthy behaving, and then the blackmail is as easy as one function button in the sky net, then to pity is best and to scorn is seen in the drinking poisons or taking poisons from the 'pharmacy' death wish.

sad the leaders in usa have been made into guilty parties of serious evil - sex traffic and trade especially children.

pedophiles are the majority of what runs america.

angelic lookers get the worst predators to share noses to hose penises and blow jobs for the sickest criminally insane.

KMA great boundary LS!

e.a.f. said...

Oh, MagginKat how true.

L.S., you really don't want Baxby to kiss your ass. Who knows where his mouth has been. We know what he has spewed forth....

Some of these lawyers would appear to be a little short on legal education. Lets see if they put their money where their mouths are, o.k. we know where their noses are so lets be careful here.

legalschnauzer said...

Actually, @4:20, I haven't read anything on Rickey Stokes News since he butchered that piece on my reporting of the Garrison/Strange affair. I've never read RSN much because I don't live in Dothan, and his is a hyper local Web site. But now, the author has proven he's an unreliable reporter by falling for a Bill Baxley con job, so I haven't checked it in weeks. As to why I haven't received legal notification, you are asking the wrong guy. If a complaint has been filed, and Bill Baxley filed it, then it's Bill Baxley's job to see to it I receive legal notification.

Anonymous said...

It appears that according to the Jefferson County Circuit Clerk's office that Baxley's case action was filed with notification to clerk's office of him notifying you by "certified mail".

If this measure was not done, has exceeded provided legal timeline to do so; does this not bring him into conflict with the court records involving him committing
perjury, I believe filing an action requires giving an oath, or assumption of oath action being truthful for filing with clerk's office.

legalschnauzer said...

I don't know about the legal timeline on such process, @8:13, but it's probably fairly lengthy, so I don't think that's an issue. Certified mail is a legit way to handle process, but not sure why Baxley would go straight to that without seeking to have a sheriff or other process server handle it.

Anonymous said...

Looks like 120 days to send, and 20days for return. But this has been since latter last month, you would think they would have pulled fast track delivery system before now.

Murph has witnesses at the ready, "rock and roll", waiting for depositions and television/paper news [maybe national]media, enter a penis
nose, maybe international news!