Lawyer Margaret O’Connor: Witness to a Crime
For Lawyer O’Connor the lawyer tribe holds more importance than truth or decency;
O’Connor knew that a child was being returned to his abuser; she knew medical evidence had been deliberately concealed to protect lawyers. But bearing witness risked too much;
Here you have the essence of what ails the legal system: misplaced loyalty derived from the fear of going counterculture;
The lawyer tribe offers support for lawyer denial regardless of right or wrong or who gets hurt, hollowing-out the souls of its members.
Lawyer Margaret O’Connor, of Racine, Wisconsin, USA, witnessed a crime. Despite her obligation to do so, she failed to report the crime. In fact, she helped conceal the crime.
But before you judge Lawyer O’Connor too harshly, walk in her shoes.
O’Connor belongs to a powerful and vindictive organisation that does not tolerate disclosure or “rat” witnesses. A kind of omerta exists inside that organisation, a code of silence. Any rat in the organisation can lose much and pay dearly.
An education and a profession are at risk.
The scene of the crime was a Milwaukee courtroom. The crime that O’Connor witnessed happened before her eyes, maybe 15 feet distant. No chance of mistaken identity.
For 18 months O’Connor, as an acolyte and paralegal to Lawyer Martin Kohler, viewed evidence on her desk – reports both medical and legal and with witnesses that included a child care worker – that a child had been abused.
The father of the child was frantic to protect the child during those 18 months, months in which Judge Hansher and Lawyer Kohler applied extreme pressure to the father for a plea bargain.
Lawyer O’Connor’s role was to shill, ensuring that the father did not consider firing Kohler. With sincerity and passion, she effectively provided reassurance that Kohler had a plan to present evidence in court to protect the child – but it would take time, patience and “the will to go the distance to win. Do you have what it takes?”
Lawyer Kohler had plans other than protecting a child. He was a member of the same organisation as O’Connor, but higher up the hierarchy. He well understood his role in the organization.
Kohler’s job was to protect fellow lawyers and a guardian ad litem from accountability for past negligence. Neither the abused child nor the father was an organisation member. In fact, they had to be considered enemies of the organisation, for, “the enemy of my brother is my enemy.”
So O’Connor watched in silence as the prosecutor, Fred Matestic, lied to the jury, claiming no evidence for the defence existed, evidence that O’Connor had handled for Kohler. Consequently, the defendant had to be mentally ill to have suggested child abuse. Kohler, the defense lawyer, agreed with the prosecution. Both concealed critical evidence from the jury.
After the sham trial O’Connor remained silent and turned over a new leaf; she became hostile to the father, denied everything. It was time for the next client.
O’Connor’s organisation is, of course, a corrupt lawyer tribe in Milwaukee. Members include Judge David Hansher, Prosecutor Fred Matestic, Lawyer Martin Kohler, Lawyer Steve Glynn, Lawyer Tom Frenn, Lawyer Robert Elliott, and our Margaret… to this day.
The lesson every lawyer learns early in Milwaukee is, Don’t mess with the Milwaukee lawyer tribe. They have power; they have memories; they will hurt you.
An example: When lawyer Mark Murphy stood up for the father and criticised Kohler, Lawyer Robert Elliott subpoenaed him and hauled him in front of a judge:
“Keep your mouth shut.”
Lawyer Murphy understood immediately. Choose idealism or your job, but you can’t have both in Milwaukee.
After the trial, Lawyer O’Connor witnessed Judge Hansher prohibit all contact between the father and his son, from age five to 18. She also discovered the prohibition was based on mental health reports that had been deliberately falsified to deflect from the trial, and to seek revenge for the father publishing accounts of the corruption.
O’Connor’s silence was not golden; it returned a child to his abuser, kept his plight concealed, and led to a false conviction. But she did retain her estimable membership in the Racine branch of the corrupt Milwaukee lawyer tribe.
This story, including appellate lawyer Steve Glynn’s protection of Kohler and Hansher rather than defending his client, is told in detail on this blog (Crime in the Courtroom: www.markinglin.com/blog) and in the book Beyond Outrage (www.beyond-outrage.com), and Lawyers Broken Bad (www.lawyersbrokenbad.com).
The corrupt Milwaukee lawyer tribe successfully concealed the wrongdoing exposed here and more. Among the many disturbing aspects of this story is the astonishing submission of fraudulent psychological reports to the court, covered up and unreported.
It is long past time for someone to investigate.
Mark Inglin
Zermatt, Switzerland
41 33 821 0936; minglin@bluewin.ch