Lawyer who keyed Marine's car gets day in court
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-kass_bd_20jan20,0,1923633.story?page=1&coll=chi_tab01_layout
Jay Grodner, the Chicago lawyer who keyed a Marine's car in anger because the car had military plates and a Marine insignia, finally got his day in court last week.
Grodner pleaded guilty in a Chicago courtroom packed with former Marines. Some had Marine pins on their coats, or baseball jackets with the Marine insignia. They didn't yellor call him names. They came to support Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty, whose car Grodner defaced in December, but who couldn't attend because he's preparing for his second tour in Iraq.
Grodner was late to court for the second time in the case. Grodner called Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Kelly, (Marine Corps/Vietnam 1969-1972), informing Kelly that he would be late to court.
"He wanted to avoid the media," Kelly said Friday. "So he's coming a half hour late."
"I don't run my courtroom that way!" responded Judge William O'Malley, ordering Grodner be arrested and held on $20,000 bail when he arrived. Finally, Grodner strolled in. A short man, wide, wearing a black fedora, dark glasses, a divorce lawyer dressed like some tough guy in the movies.
Grodner told me he'd describe himself as a "radical liberal" who's ready to leave Chicago now with all this negative publicity and move to the south of France and do some traveling.
Judge O'Malley has also traveled, but in his youth. He was a police officer on the West Side during the riots before law school. And before that, he performed another public service. Judge O'Malley served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1961-1964.
During the proceedings, the judge described the offense as anger rose in his voice, especially as Grodner started balking on a plea arrangement he'd made with prosecutors.
"Is this what you did? Yes or no," Judge O'Malley asked Grodner.
"Without knowing, yes," Grodner said, sticking to his I-might-have-done-it-but-didn't-really-mean-it defense.
O'Malley asked again, in a stronger voice, not that of a judge but of a cop on the street or a Marine who meant business.
"DID YOU KNOWINGLY CAUSE DAMAGE TO THIS CAR?" O'Malley asked.
Grodner bowed his head, meekly, and responded in an equally meek voice:
"Yes," he said.
After the admission, came the details and Grodner was lucky, getting off with a misdemeanor and no jail time, and not a felony even though he caused $2,400 in damage to Sgt. McNulty's car.
So Grodner received a $600 fine, which will go to a Marine charity, 30 hours of community service and a year of court supervision. If he doesn't pay up in a month, the judge promised to put him in jail for a year.
Judge O'Malley had something to say. He looked out into his courtroom, at all those men who'd come to support a Marine they didn't know.
"You caused damage to this young Marine sergeant's car because you were offended by his Marine Corps license plates," said Judge O'Malley.
Grodner stood there, hands behind his back. He grasped the fingers of his left hand with his right, and held it there, so they wouldn't wiggle.
"You're probably also wondering why there was a whole crowd of people here, Mr. Grodner," said Judge O'Malley.
"I don't want to wonder," said Grodner, continuing in his new meek voice, not in his tough divorce lawyer voice, but the gentle, inside voice he'd just learned.
"That's because there is a little principle that the Marine Corps has had since 1775," the judge continued. "When they fought and lost their lives so that people like you could enjoy the freedom of this country. It is a little proverb that we follow:
"No Marine is left behind.
"So Sgt. McNulty couldn't be here. But other Marines showed up in his stead. Take him away," said the judge and former Marine.
They took Grodner away, he was processed, and everyone left. The lobby was dark, quiet, except for two court deputies running the metal detector. Then Grodner came through an inside door, put his fedora back on, the dark glasses, a tough guy again.
We stood outside, in the parking lot, talking for 20 minutes. He smoked, and I didn't. He explained that he wasn't anti-military and why he pleaded guilty.
"The judge, he's the guy with the black robes," Grodner said. He could have been slapped with a felony, but Sgt. McNulty's family said they wanted to put this behind them and let it go as a misdemeanor. Grodner showed no remorse, and I asked if he'd apologize.
"Yes, I'd say, 'I'm sorry if I scratched your car.' It escalated. That's when he wanted me locked up and thrown away," said Grodner, always the victim.
Grodner tells me he plans to leave for the French Riviera and get some sun.
Sgt. McNulty will get some sun, too. In Iraq.
Jay Grodner, the Chicago lawyer who keyed a Marine's car in anger because the car had military plates and a Marine insignia, finally got his day in court last week.
Grodner pleaded guilty in a Chicago courtroom packed with former Marines. Some had Marine pins on their coats, or baseball jackets with the Marine insignia. They didn't yellor call him names. They came to support Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty, whose car Grodner defaced in December, but who couldn't attend because he's preparing for his second tour in Iraq.
Grodner was late to court for the second time in the case. Grodner called Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Kelly, (Marine Corps/Vietnam 1969-1972), informing Kelly that he would be late to court.
"He wanted to avoid the media," Kelly said Friday. "So he's coming a half hour late."
"I don't run my courtroom that way!" responded Judge William O'Malley, ordering Grodner be arrested and held on $20,000 bail when he arrived. Finally, Grodner strolled in. A short man, wide, wearing a black fedora, dark glasses, a divorce lawyer dressed like some tough guy in the movies.
Grodner told me he'd describe himself as a "radical liberal" who's ready to leave Chicago now with all this negative publicity and move to the south of France and do some traveling.
Judge O'Malley has also traveled, but in his youth. He was a police officer on the West Side during the riots before law school. And before that, he performed another public service. Judge O'Malley served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1961-1964.
During the proceedings, the judge described the offense as anger rose in his voice, especially as Grodner started balking on a plea arrangement he'd made with prosecutors.
"Is this what you did? Yes or no," Judge O'Malley asked Grodner.
"Without knowing, yes," Grodner said, sticking to his I-might-have-done-it-but-didn't-really-mean-it defense.
O'Malley asked again, in a stronger voice, not that of a judge but of a cop on the street or a Marine who meant business.
"DID YOU KNOWINGLY CAUSE DAMAGE TO THIS CAR?" O'Malley asked.
Grodner bowed his head, meekly, and responded in an equally meek voice:
"Yes," he said.
After the admission, came the details and Grodner was lucky, getting off with a misdemeanor and no jail time, and not a felony even though he caused $2,400 in damage to Sgt. McNulty's car.
So Grodner received a $600 fine, which will go to a Marine charity, 30 hours of community service and a year of court supervision. If he doesn't pay up in a month, the judge promised to put him in jail for a year.
Judge O'Malley had something to say. He looked out into his courtroom, at all those men who'd come to support a Marine they didn't know.
"You caused damage to this young Marine sergeant's car because you were offended by his Marine Corps license plates," said Judge O'Malley.
Grodner stood there, hands behind his back. He grasped the fingers of his left hand with his right, and held it there, so they wouldn't wiggle.
"You're probably also wondering why there was a whole crowd of people here, Mr. Grodner," said Judge O'Malley.
"I don't want to wonder," said Grodner, continuing in his new meek voice, not in his tough divorce lawyer voice, but the gentle, inside voice he'd just learned.
"That's because there is a little principle that the Marine Corps has had since 1775," the judge continued. "When they fought and lost their lives so that people like you could enjoy the freedom of this country. It is a little proverb that we follow:
"No Marine is left behind.
"So Sgt. McNulty couldn't be here. But other Marines showed up in his stead. Take him away," said the judge and former Marine.
They took Grodner away, he was processed, and everyone left. The lobby was dark, quiet, except for two court deputies running the metal detector. Then Grodner came through an inside door, put his fedora back on, the dark glasses, a tough guy again.
We stood outside, in the parking lot, talking for 20 minutes. He smoked, and I didn't. He explained that he wasn't anti-military and why he pleaded guilty.
"The judge, he's the guy with the black robes," Grodner said. He could have been slapped with a felony, but Sgt. McNulty's family said they wanted to put this behind them and let it go as a misdemeanor. Grodner showed no remorse, and I asked if he'd apologize.
"Yes, I'd say, 'I'm sorry if I scratched your car.' It escalated. That's when he wanted me locked up and thrown away," said Grodner, always the victim.
Grodner tells me he plans to leave for the French Riviera and get some sun.
Sgt. McNulty will get some sun, too. In Iraq.
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Scumbag lawyer. He needs to be beaten (JUST A LITTLE!!!!!!)
Merc0 -
What can you say?
I don't read where he was ordered to pay for the damages.0 -
You would think this topic would get more airplay on GB. I at least assume a few strong comments supporting the lawyers right to "make his statement".
I think he should move to France "tr?s bient?t".
And stay for a long time.
IMHO.0 -
He doesn't need to be beaten, he needs to be sued into bankruptcy, have all of his possessions taken, and his passport revoked so he can't buy anything, travel, or even have a place to call his own. Scum like that are a detriment to society far worse than any welfare case or illegal immigrant.[:(!] 0 -
The lawyer is Jewish. 0 -
will the marine be able to put in a claim for getting the damage repaired when he gets back from overseas? ..civil case?..sorry,im not familiar with your civil laws there. bloody lawyer, he got off light! he should have been made to go to a repetriation hospital and look into the eyes of wounded marines! 0 -
Civil Rights - what is your point? Why would you raise the man's faith in your post? 0 -
quote:Originally posted by dan kelly
will the marine be able to put in a claim for getting the damage repaired when he gets back from overseas? ..civil case?..sorry,im not familiar with your civil laws there. bloody lawyer, he got off light! he should have been made to go to a repetriation hospital and look into the eyes of wounded marines!
the judge ordered him to pay, remember he was going for a felony which got reduced.
also what was the argument about between the two that made the lawyer scratch his car?0 -
It does not matter if he is Jewish or not....He is a jerk. There are non-Jewish people that are jerks and do stupid things also Mr.
Civil Rights.0 -
chicagotribune.com
John Kass
January 3, 2008
Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty -- now on his way to Iraq for his second tour of duty in the war -- took meticulous care of his car.
It is a black two-door BMW, an expensive ride for a young Marine from Chicago, but then, McNulty didn't exactly join up for the big paycheck and luxury vacations.
The 26-year-old McNulty was a trader at the exchange and enlisted in the Reserves after 9/11. He babied his car so much that he had military vanity plates along with a sticker in his window that let people know that a Marine or a Marine supporter drove that car.
But someone didn't like the Marine sticker, or the pro-military plates, and decided to stage an anti-war protest, with a key or hard piece of metal, on the shiny black finish of Sgt. McNulty's car that caused $2,400 in damage.
"It's a really nice car. It's in perfect condition. He keeps it meticulous. And he was going to sell it," said Sgt. McNulty's friend, Tom Sullivan, a college buddy from Loyola University.
The last time Sgt. McNulty was in Iraq, he worked a .50-caliber machine gun from a Humvee. Now that he's going back, he really doesn't need a shiny black BMW that shows dust.
"There wasn't a scratch on his car," Sullivan said.
But there is one now.
It is a big scratch, a particularly long scratch in that black paint, a scratch stretching from the rear driver's side around the back, across the trunk, then up to the passenger's side.
If you have a car, and parked it on the street, surely you've thought about what an angry key could do to it.
According to the Cook County state's attorney's office, it wasn't an accident, but a deliberate key job, not done by some kid or street thug, but by a Chicago lawyer who apparently can't stand the military.
Private attorney Jay R. Grodner, 55, of Chicago has been charged with a class A misdemeanor -- criminal damage to property -- punishable by up to one year in jail and up to a $2,500 fine, said Andy Conklin, spokesman for the state's attorney's office.
Late Wednesday, I reached Sgt. McNulty, who declined to comment for the paper but confirmed the facts in the police report.
And I wanted to get Grodner's side of it because he's been accused but not convicted of anything. So we called all the Grodner numbers we could find -- home and business -- including those on the police report and others in the suburbs and Chicago. Many were disconnected, and his cell phone voice mail was full.
I'd like to ask him two questions:
Why?
And, are you proud?
"McNulty was just coming to pick me up for breakfast, because he was going to training just before deployment," Sullivan said of that morning on Dec. 1 in Rogers Park.
There are several one-way streets near Sullivan's home, but McNulty missed the turn, and rather than drive two or three blocks around, he put the car in reverse and backed up a hundred or so feet. He pulled up in front of his friend's house, rang the bell and Sullivan came downstairs. McNulty then turned around and saw Grodner's hands on his black car.
"Mike says, 'Hey, what are you doing to my car? Open up your hand!'" Sullivan told us. "And [Grodner] goes, '[Blank] you! Just because you're in the military you don't run the roost!'"
There were allegedly many more epithets and cuss words, some allegedly applied to the United States Marine Corps, to the U.S. armed forces and to Sgt. McNulty himself.
"Quite frankly, you don't even look like a soldier. You're a small little [blank]," Grodner said according to Sullivan.
This last bit really bothers William McNulty, who is Sgt. McNulty's brother, and he called me.
"My brother should be commended for not just smashing that guy's windpipe right there for all the stuff he said about our military, and the insults," William McNulty said. "Instead, my brother called the police, as he should have."
According to the police report I read, other investigative accounts and interviews, Grodner was upset to have been accused of purposely scratching the car. So upset, that he accused his accusers of being anti-Semitic.
The Chicago police officer responding to the call didn't take the accusation seriously, according to the report, because he couldn't justify it. And Sgt. McNulty's brother and Sullivan say it is outrageous and nonsensical.
"The officer wasn't going to hear this kind of talk. He put the kibosh on the whole thing," Sullivan said. "So [Grodner] became apologetic."
According to the police report, "The offender denied scratching the victim's vehicle, but did admit to rubbing past it."
Rubbing past it? I guess it all depends on what the definition of "rubbing" is.
That's where it is now, awaiting another court date, set for Jan. 18, after Sgt. McNulty refused to back off and drop the charges in earlier court appearances.
Lawyers know how to drag things out, with continuance after continuance, stalling until complaining witnesses get tired and move on.
But Marines on their way to war don't seek continuances.
And all Sgt. McNulty wanted was a little respect, and the chance to sell that car of his, without a scratch.0 -
jgreen...no not civil rights...i dont know what it would be called there...here if its not a crimminal case then its a civil case...like if you were to sue me for damages for running a key across your car here it would be a civil caes. 0 -
Gonna have to admire Sgt McNulty's self retraint. Believe that if I were in the good Sergeant's shoes, Grodner would have been treated to a beating, free of charge and one better than money could buy. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Jgreen
Civil Rights - what is your point? Why would you raise the man's faith in your post?
He has a good point, but it doesn't show so much when he wears his hat. [:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by Civil RightsThe lawyer is Jewish. So you are agreeing that he has at least one redeeming point? 0
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