Michael "Mickey" Sherman (born circa 1947) is a Connecticut-based American criminal defense attorney.[2] He is known for his representation of Michael Skakel. Sherman's client was found guilty. In October 2013, a judge ordered a retrial for Skakel, citing Sherman's "glaring ineffectiveness"; the State appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court, which reinstated the conviction on December 30, 2016, as reported by the New York Times on December 31, 2016.[3][4] On May, 4, 2018, the conviction was overturned by the Connecticut Supreme Court.[5]
On March 15, 2011, Sherman was sent to prison for failing to pay more than $1.1million in federal taxes.[6] Sherman was released from prison in December 2011 and returned to the active practice of law in 2012.
Early life and education
Sherman grew up in a section of Greenwich, Connecticut that was not affluent.[3] A graduate of Greenwich High School, Sherman received his bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and, in 1971, his Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law. In May 2005, Sherman was disinvited from speaking at Greenwich High School's commencement due to public outcry from parents.[7] Jackie Striano, Greenwich High School activities director, said Sherman was disinvited because he had defended several students from the school against drunk-driving charges over the years.
Career
Sherman was disciplined by a state licensing authority in both 2007 and 2011.[8] In 2011, Sherman was suspended from practicing as a lawyer.[8]
Mr. Sherman served as an assistant public Defender in Stamford Superior Court and later as an assistant prosecutor, a post he held for four years.[9]
His courtroom and trial tactics have been the subject of feature articles in the New York Times, the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, and New York Newsday. In 1986, the New York Times questioned whether he hurt the jury system by hiring a juror from a deadlocked rape jury to sit through the defendant's retrial as a consultant. After the second trial, the Connecticut Legislature passed a statute outlawing the tactic.[10]
Sherman defended a Vietnam veteran in a murder trial using a post-traumatic stress disorder defense. That became the subject of half-hour productions on CBS's Verdict, NBC's Dateline and the BBC series, America on Trial.[10]
Sherman pleaded guilty in 2010 to failing to pay two years' worth of federal income taxes, more than $420,000, and starting on March 15, 2011, served a year and a day in a minimum-security prison camp in upstate New York.[11][12]
Billing practices and misconduct
On January 5, 2007, the Hartford Courant reported that Sherman was under investigation by a panel of the Statewide Grievance Committee, a state agency which disciplines lawyers, concerning an accusation that he violated several rules of professional conduct, including charging the client $187,000 without providing a fee agreement or an hourly billing statement. A former client, Hakan Yalincak, complained to the agency in March 2006 that Sherman, his attorney, had billed him $187,000, bounced a refund check, and had provided little documentation to show where the money went.[13]
In 2006, Sherman paid Yalincak a $50,000 refund during the grievance process, and the former client tried to drop his charges, but the agency wouldn't allow it. The panel then started investigating whether or not Sherman had acted improperly by making a payment to someone who brought accusations against him to the state agency. Sherman said the payment had nothing to do with the complaint to the agency but was made in exchange for Yalincak's agreement not to file a lawsuit against him. In September 2006, a regional panel of the Statewide Grievance Committee issued a finding of probable cause against Sherman. In February 2007, Yalincak also filed a federal lawsuit against Sherman and his partners at the law firm of Sherman, Richichi, & Hickey, LLC. In May 2007, Sherman agreed to reduced charges that he violated two rules of professional conduct and was reprimanded by the Statewide Grievance Committee. In October 2007, Sherman also reached two confidential settlements with the complainant. In early 2009, the Federal Grievance Committee of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut imposed identical discipline with the Statewide Grievance Committee on Sherman for identical violations.
On April 16, 2006, Sherman was also temporarily suspended for four days for failing to pay the Client Security Fund Fee in accordance with Practice Book 2-70.[14]
On June 30, 2010, Sherman pleaded guilty two counts of willfully failing to pay federal income taxes for tax years 2001 and 2002, in the amount of $390,000 in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. As of the date of his plea, Sherman still owed penalties and interest for those years in the approximate amount of $309,000. Sherman also owes back taxes in the approximate amount of $697,500, and approximately $144,000 in penalties and interest, for the 2004 through 2008 tax years. He was sentenced on December 22, 2010 to one year and one day in prison. He reported to prison on March 16, 2011.[15]
Sherman's former law firm partner, the late Joseph Richichi also pleaded guilty to similar charges of tax evasion for failing to pay taxes on approximately $3.1million on April 5, 2007 and was sentenced on December 19, 2007 to sixteen month imprisonment.[16]
Accounts by the Stamford Advocate in 2011 and 2012, as well as the Connecticut Superior Court website indicate that Sherman was reinstated as an attorney permitted to practice law in the State of Connecticut, provided he submits to monthly audits of his client escrow account and billing practices.
In October 2013, Superior Court Judge Thomas Bishop in Connecticut found that Sherman had rendered ineffective assistance to another former client, Michael C. Skakel, who had been convicted of murdering Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut. Although Sherman had been paid nearly $1.2million to defend Skakel, in a 136-page scathing opinion Judge Bishop heavily criticized Sherman's legal representation because Sherman was representing Skakel while trying to placate the IRS, Sherman failed to follow up leads, and was too distracted by the media spotlight and rendered ineffective assistance of counsel to Michael Skakel. In the same 136 page opinion, Judge Bishop vacated Michael C. Skakel's conviction for murder and ordered a new trial.[17] The State of Connecticut appealed, and Skakel was released on bond pending the appeal. On December 30, 2016, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned this decision, reinstating the murder conviction. After a motion for reconsideration, the court reversed itself on May 4, 2018, vacating Skakel's conviction once again due to what was found to be ineffective representation by Sherman.
Sherman has two children with ex-wife Judy Jacobson, a son, lawyer Mark Sherman,[20][21] and a daughter, Jamie.[20] His daughter-in-law is Connecticut lawyer Rachel Sherman, who is married to Mark.[20][22]
In 2012, Wiehl confirmed on a morning talk show that she and Sherman had separated.
In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence, but accepts imposition of a sentence. This plea is allowed even if the evidence to be presented by the prosecution would be likely to persuade a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This can be caused by circumstantial evidence and testimony favoring the prosecution, and difficulty finding evidence and witnesses that would aid the defense.
A plea bargain is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or nolo contendere. This may mean that the defendant will plead guilty to a less serious charge, or to one of the several charges, in return for the dismissal of other charges; or it may mean that the defendant will plead guilty to the original criminal charge in return for a more lenient sentence.
Harry Eugene Claiborne was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada from 1978 until his impeachment and removal in 1986. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, Claiborne was only the fifth person in United States history to be removed from office through impeachment by the United States Congress and the first since Halsted Ritter in 1936.
Lynne Irene Stewart was an American defense attorney who was known for representing controversial, famous defendants. She herself was convicted on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists in 2005, and sentenced to 28 months in prison. Her felony conviction led to her being automatically disbarred. She was convicted of helping pass messages from her client Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric convicted of planning terror attacks, to his followers in al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an organization designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States Secretary of State.
Vincent L. Leibell III is a former American politician from Putnam County, New York. After a long career in the New York State Legislature, Leibell ran for and was elected county executive in 2010, but resigned prior to taking office following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation which led to his arrest and subsequent conviction on federal corruption charges.
In United States law, ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) is a claim raised by a convicted criminal defendant asserting that the defendant's legal counsel performed so ineffectively that it deprived the defendant of the constitutional right guaranteed by the Assistance of Counsel Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Ineffectiveness claims may only be brought where the defendant had the right to counsel, ordinarily during the critical stages of a prosecution.
Martha Elizabeth Moxley was a 15-year-old American high school student from Greenwich, Connecticut, who was murdered in 1975. Moxley was last seen alive spending time at the home of the Skakel family, across the street from her home in Belle Haven. Michael Skakel, also aged 15 at the time, was convicted in 2002 of murdering Moxley and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. In 2013, Skakel was granted a new trial by a Connecticut judge who ruled that his counsel had been inadequate, and he was released on $1.2 million bail. On December 30, 2016, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4–3 to reinstate Skakel's conviction. The Connecticut Supreme Court reversed itself on May 4, 2018, and ordered a new trial. On October 30, 2020, the 45th anniversary of Moxley's murder, the state of Connecticut announced it would not retry Skakel for Moxley's murder. The case attracted worldwide publicity, as Skakel is a nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, the widow of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
The KPMG tax shelter fraud scandal involved illegal U.S. tax shelters by KPMG that were exposed beginning in 2003. In early 2005, the United States member firm of KPMG International, KPMG LLP, was accused by the United States Department of Justice of fraud in marketing abusive tax shelters.
Gerald Phillip Garson was an American lawyer and New York Supreme Court Justice who heard matrimonial divorce and child custody cases in Brooklyn. He was convicted in 2007 of accepting bribes to manipulate the outcomes of divorce proceedings. Garson was imprisoned from June 2007 until December 2009.
Gerald "Jerry" Lawrence Shargel was an American defense attorney who was based in New York City and generally considered one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country.
John Henry Browne is an American criminal defense attorney practicing in Seattle, Washington. Browne is known for his zeal in defending his clients, his flair for garnering media attention, and for being known as the “plead guilty to avoid the death penalty” lawyer. He has represented defendants in a number of high-profile cases, including serial killer Ted Bundy, Colton Harris-Moore, Benjamin Ng and Martin Pang. He has tried over 250 criminal cases to verdict. Browne and his actions have been the subject of some controversy, and he has sometimes been criticized for his peculiar and combative style both in and out of the courtroom. He is particularly known for obtaining sympathetic treatment for his clients by shifting the focus away from the serious crimes that were committed by arguing for consideration of the background of the defendant and the circumstances in which the events took place.
Participants in the Madoff investment scandal included employees of Bernard Madoff's investment firm with specific knowledge of the Ponzi scheme, a three-person accounting firm that assembled his reports, and a network of feeder funds that invested their clients' money with Madoff while collecting significant fees. Madoff avoided most direct financial scrutiny by accepting investments only through these feeder funds, while obtaining false auditing statements for his firm. The liquidation trustee of Madoff's firm has implicated managers of the feeder funds for ignoring signs of Madoff's deception.
The kids for cash scandal centered on judicial kickbacks to two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, US. In 2008, judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were convicted of accepting money in return for imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles to increase occupancy at a private prison operated by PA Child Care.
Paul J. Fishman is an American lawyer and former United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2009 to 2017.
Ernest E. Newton is an American politician in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Newton served for seventeen years in the Connecticut General Assembly, serving in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1988 to 2003 and in the Connecticut State Senate from 2003 to 2006. He pleaded guilty to federal felony corruption charges in September 2005 and served several years in federal prison. Newton was released in February 2010 and in 2012 unsuccessfully attempted a political comeback, losing in the primary in a race for his old state Senate seat. He pleaded guilty to three campaign finance violations in 2019, relating to his 2012 legislative campaign.
Under the federal law of the United States of America, tax evasion or tax fraud is the purposeful illegal attempt of a taxpayer to evade assessment or payment of a tax imposed by Federal law. Conviction of tax evasion may result in fines and imprisonment. Compared to other countries, Americans are more likely to pay their taxes on time and law-abidingly.
Joseph R. Pisani was an American lawyer and politician from New York.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
