I am heading to Richmond to do a three hour legal ethics seminar, and in my preparation, I ran across this depressing story. The seminar is called “Legal Ethics Unmasked,” and man oh man, has watching lawyers, prosecutors and judges reveal the creeps beneath been disillusioning.
The ABA headline was certainly clickbait: “Judge settles suit accusing lawyer of threatening to release her intimate photos in bid to scuttle deposition.”
Florida judge Marni Bryson of the 15th Judicial Circuit (above) settled her emotional-distress suit against lawyer William Scherer and his law firm, Conrad & Scherer. She had sued them for allegedly trying to blackmail her by releasing nude photos taken of her during her pregnancy. The settlement is confidential.
Bryson claimed that Scherer sent another lawyer to her chambers to deliver the nude-photo threat during a post-divorce dispute between Bryson and her ex-husband. Scherer represented the ex-husband’s then-girlfriend, who was a “powerful lawyer/lobbyist” according to press accounts. The judge was told that her nude photos and “other damaging information” would be released if she insisted on taking a deposition of the then-girlfriend.
The damaging information possessed by the girlfriend included a nude photo of Bryson that the judge had sent to (now try to follow this) the girlfriend’s ex-husband after the judge and the husband began a “friendly relationship.” The nude photo showed Bryson to be pregnant.
Bryson’s lawyers had filed a motion in limine seeking to keep alleged “bad acts” out of evidence in the scheduled trial on the grounds that they were“irrelevant and immaterial.” The evidence that should be excluded, the motion claimed, included “post-divorce bickering,” the identity of people to whom Bryson sent (nude?) photos, and “such irrelevant issues as who was sleeping with who[m],” the motion said. In a footnote, the motion also noted that one of the photos produced by the defendants “is an image of a vagina that is not Judge Bryson’s,” and “there is no conceivable basis for this image becoming part of the trial.”
Good point. I hate it when random vagina photos work their way into evidence.
GAH!
Who ARE these people? Why is one of them a judge? How do people who try to blackmail lawyers get to be lawyers? Who sends nude photos to people as they commence a “friendly relationship”?
So far, I can find no information about whether this craziness is going to result in any professional discipline. It has to, at least for the lawyers, I would think. And then there’s the provision of the Florida Judicial Ethics Code that says that a judge’s non-judicial activities should not “demean” the office. Bryson has been admonished for her conduct before, but to be fair, there’s nothing in the Code that clearly prohibits a judge from sending nude photos of herself around.
What am I doing with my life???
Ethics Alarms 
Cast of Characters-
Bryson, the judge;
Her ex husband (lets call him Sam);
Ex-hubands girlfriend, lobbyist (lets call her Irene),
ex husbands girlfiends husband ( lets call him George)
Now the plot
Bryson is suing Sam for divorce because Sam is having an affair with Irene. Bryson want to depose Irene for the divorce proceedings. I therefore assume she is representing herself, which is bad advice for any lawyer to follow. Will, Irene;s lawyer bring naked photos of bryson to perusade her not to depose Irene or else!
The photos in question were sent to George, who was probably having an affair with Bryson. Irene forund the photos on George’s media.
So a few questions arise. Who is the baby daddy? Who lost control of access to their vagina ? Who would pay an admission price to see this movie?
Thanks, I was about to try to flowchart this.
Another question: Which affair started first? Was the second affair a ‘revenge’ affair? How many people did this judge send nude photos to? Was it more than 6?
This is even more convoluted that the local murder I was told about recently. It involved a husband and wife, the wife’s boyfriend (who lived next door) and the wife’s lesbian girlfriend. The wife’s boyfriend was killed at home, the husband left the state a few hours later (for weeks). The body was found by the lesbian girlfriend of the wife who was having an affair with him (and her). I was told that several of the people involved had security clearances. Is it this kind of thing that made Richard Dawkins say that he is a cultural Christian?
Is this why the government has become so totalitarian lately? Is it because the population won’t voluntarily follow ‘elites’ who act like this? Let’s face it, these people are acting like a bunch of hormone-saturated teenagers.
Jack: “In a footnote, the motion also noted that one of the photos produced by the defendants “is an image of a vagina that is not Judge Bryson’s,” and “there is no conceivable basis for this image becoming part of the trial.””
I have to admit, I am a bit curious to hear the offer of proof that would be made in response to a foundation objection to this piece of evidence.
-Jut
My guess is there’s a younger generation of litigators (who now comprise the pool from which judges are chosen) who have a “win at all costs” attitude toward their craft. Which is not a good development insofar as my impression is that litigators who know and play by the rules are the best at getting a good result for their clients. They know litigation is essentially a game which in large part predetermines the outcome of trial work. I remember sitting with a senior litigation partner with a national defense practice as he got on the speaker phone and told a client there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of his being able to get a good result for the client, “but I’ll do the very best I can,” he concluded as he winked at me. After he hung up, he said, “Managing expectations is the key to being a good trial attorney.” So, for the good guys, it’s just a game. They don’t take it personally. “Sometimes you bite the bear, and sometimes the bear bites you.” Clearly, the people in this episode are not of that mind.
I’m sure there’s a “does the carpet match the drapes” joke in there somewhere.
I’ll be here all week.
Took me a while to get that one! HIGH larious.
I think Alicia just won the internet for today. Kudos!
My question: What the hell is wrong with people?
If some SOB threatened to release photos of a woman I cared about in an attempt to intimidate her, I think my anger would be considerable. I would invest some serious research and resources on how best to utterly ruin him.
What a contemptible cad.
This one is a little more complicated. It seems that the judge sent these pictures to numerous people. At that point, release of them to the wild is almost guaranteed. It isn’t like someone surreptitiously took the photos and then used them for blackmail. I’m not sure why this blackmail was even effective. I would think by now that you could find them with a Google search. The men in the most likely position to care about her would be her husband (that she is divorcing) and her lover (whose pictures are being used against her). So…maybe her dad could be mad, but I am assuming (based on the behavior) that she didn’t have a strong relationship with her father.
Holy shit, what a mare’s nest. A disgusting one at that, both ethically and… I don’t know, normal-humanly?
I share your “Who ARE these people?” sentiment, completely. Where does someone engaged in this sort of behavior get their childhood instruction? What does this say about the judge’s parents, never mind the parents of the blackmailers, who must’ve been raised as La Cosa Nostra.
THIS is why “lawyers” is a pejorative. I guess judges are beginning to find themselves in the same trick-bag, and for apparently good reason.
Now where is that wood-chipper…
Yeah, both judges in my town have done things that suggest they are in the same category as this one. All the previous judges in town also allowed a pedophile lawyer to be assigned all indigent teen boys for over a few decades (he was caught with them, literally, with his pants down). One of the judges in the next county made national news for her behavior and another used to preside over drug court while drunk. Our last two DA’s were caught protecting a pedophile and a previous town I lived in had a DA who was stalking a rape victim with charges pending. The town my parent’s live in had a judge make national news for dating a police officer who testified in her cases…I can go on and on. Unless every place I have every lived is cursed and my entire family is cursed, this is normal behavior for a typical judge in a typical town. Are other areas better, is it just that this stuff isn’t widely known, or am I just cursed?
Yikes!
Query:
Am I the only one who is mystified by pictures of women’s “baby bumps,” clothed or otherwise? Whatever happened to those evidently now quaint outfits called “maternity clothes?” I remember Mrs. OB dutifully going to a “maternity shop” to buy loose fitting clothes while carrying OB Jr. Of course, that was almost a half a century ago. But wasn’t it nice when pregnant women just sort of cooled it for a few months while their bodies were stretched to the limit? When did “Look at me! I’m pregnant! And here are the naked photos to prove it!” become nearly obligatory? A mystery.
“But wasn’t it nice when pregnant women just sort of cooled it for a few months while their bodies were stretched to the limit?”
Um…
PWS
I rest my case.
Being curious about such things, I did a wee bit of research into how someone like Ms. Bryson reached her position.
As I suspected, Florida circuit court judges are elected. So that should answer any questions related to how someone capable of this level of idiocy became a judge.
The Palm Beach Post reported in May 2022 that Judge M. Bryson was only the 2nd jurist in Palm Beach county history to be publicly reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court.
After initially denying the allegations against her regarding her failing to show up for work without notifying others, she agreed she violated two rules as a result of the failure to show (and I am paraphrasing) – 1) putting the job first and 2) treating lawyers, litigantes, etc. respectfully.
The article notes she wore a mask while being publicly rebuked.
That was noble of her, since her best feature appear to be her face.