Does Uncle Tom Go Both Ways?

I promise I'm not obsessed with Assistant DA "Uncle Tom" Levidiotis of Oxford, although I have posted twice before about his exploits.

http://jimcraigsworld.blogspot.com/2009/02/with-enemies-like-this-who-needs_06.html

http://jimcraigsworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/uncle-toms-courtroom.html

But I thought my readers would want to know that, although he now is a full-time prosecutor for the State of Mississippi, Mr. Levidiotis is still listed as counsel of record for prisoners in habeas corpus proceedings AGAINST the State of Mississippi.

For example, the PACER docket in the U.S. District Court (Southern District of Mississippi, Hattiesburg Division) in the case of Stevens v. Epps, Civ. Action No. 2:04-cv-00118-KS, lists Mr. Levidiotis as "Lead Attorney" for Mr. Stevens.

That docket also reports that on November 18, 2008, Mr. Levidiotis filed a Rebuttal in Support of Mr. Stevens' Motion to Alter Judgment and Motion to Alter or Amend Pursuant to Rule 59(e).

Another one:

The PACER docket in the U.S. District Court (Northern District of Mississippi, Greenville Division) in the case of Branch v. Epps, No. 4:07-cv-00138-MPM, lists Mr. Levidiotis as one of the "Lead Attorneys" for Mr. Branch. ADA Levidiotis filed a motion for Mr. Branch (a "Motion for Leave to File Responsive Pleading") as recently as January 28, 2009.

Finally:

The Fifth Circuit docket for Simmons v. Epps, No. 08-70048, lists Mr. Levidiotis as one of the attorneys for Mr. Simmons. He entered his appearance on December 19, 2008, and was issued a voucher for Federal payment for his services on January 14, 2009.

Am I the only one who thinks this isn't quite kosher? I suppose a newly appointed public employee is allowed to carry on his prior work long enough to keep his clients from being prejudiced. But Mr. Levidiotis is not the only attorney for the prisoners in any of these cases; surely it wouldn't be an issue for him to withdraw. And does the "winding down" rule apply when one has what appears to be a direct conflict of interest?

Maybe this is just the Mississippi legal system, once again, cutting corners on fundamental principles. But it smells fishy to this writer.

With Enemies Like This, Who Needs Friends? (Part Two)

Another story from North Mississippi. Courtesy of the blog Folo (www.folo.us), I read this story on The Daily Mississippian about an astonishingly light sentence for a defendant accused of stabbing his victim in the back five times:

http://smc.olemiss.edu/?p=509

(The Folo story is here: http://www.folo.us/2009/02/06/i-cant-blame-scott-white-for-being-aggravated/)

As the Daily Mississippian reports:

The new Lafayette County Assistant District Attorney, Thomas C. Levidiotis, has cleared approximately 120 circuit court cases since he assumed his position on the first of this year. But in clearing so many cases at once, one former Lafayette County resident said a major mistake was made.

Scott White was a victim of a violent multiple stabbing in April 2007 by his neighbor, 29-year-old Jerami Tubbs of Aberdeen.

Mississippi does not have a law against attempted murder, so authorities arrested Tubbs on charges of aggravated assault. While assault charges could land a criminal in jail for 20 years, Tubbs worked out a deal which got him only one year of house arrest followed by four years of probation.

According to White, the District Attorney’s office didn’t inform him the deal was happening until after Tubbs pleaded guilty.

“As a result, the person who stabbed me, an unarmed man, in the back five times without provocation does not spend a day in jail for his crime, and I was deprived of my right under the law to express my concerns in court,” White said.

Oh yes, you remember correctly. I've talked about Mr. Levidiotis before:
http://jimcraigsworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/uncle-toms-courtroom.html

It seems that Uncle Tom gets fantastic results for criminal defendants -- when he's the attorney for the State of Mississippi??

Am I the only one who wonders if we don't know the whole story here? The Daily Mississippian tried to find out, but Lafayette County's newest public servant couldn't be bothered to be accountable. The paper reports:

Levidiotis declined to comment on his failure to inform White of the plea bargain by saying, “That does not fit my recollection, but I will not comment on something told to The Daily Mississippian about a case I have handled.”

He did point out that the defendant was sentenced for five years, but with four suspended, leaving one year to be served via house arrest.

Thanks. I feel safer now.

Uncle Tom's Courtroom

Folo collects two stories about the new Assistant District Attorney in Lafayette County:

http://www.folo.us/2009/01/24/colorful-court-talk-in-oxford/

Tom Levidiotis was formerly the part-time Public Defender in that county. He was also formerly a staff attorney at the Mississippi Office of Post-Conviction Counsel (MOCPCC), toward the end of the years that Robert Ryan was Executive Director. Ryan's tenure marked some of the most shameful mis-representation of clients that has ever been seen in Mississippi death penalty jurisprudence.

Note: the JFP story I wrote about the execution of Earl Berry, and Ryan's woeful work, is at
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/comments/the_execution_of_earl_wesley_berry/

The JFP's Ronni Mott did her own excellent reporting on the subject of MOCPCC:
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/dereliction_of_duty_070908/

But back to the land of Faulkner. Folo connects us to the Oxford Eagle's website (http://www.oxfordeagle.com/archives/2009/0109/011909-012309/012309/news1.html), where we experience this bit of courtroom drama:

The trial against the man accused of murdering University of Mississippi track star Rodney Lockhart has been postponed for an undetermined amount of time after the state announced it would be seeking additional charges against Christian Bonner during a pre-trial hearing Thursday.

Bonner was indicted for capital murder in December 2007 for allegedly shooting Lockhart in the head on Sept. 29, 2007, during a robbery.His trial has been postponed several times. The case was set for trial Monday, but Bonner’s attorney, Kevin Camp of Jackson, filed a motion asking for a continuance because he had other trials pending in Jackson.

* * * *

[Circuit Judge] Howorth said he would continue the case for a short period of time but was interrupted by Assistant District Attorney Tom Levidiotis who announced the state’s intent to supersede the indictment with new charges — which apparently took everyone by surprise. What the exact charges are or whether they were related to the state seeking the death penalty against Bonner were not being released by the District Attorney’s Office.

The state had announced last year it was not seeking the death penalty in the case, but Thursday Levidiotis hinted that could change and that decision would be up to the grand jury on Feb. 9 — not the state.“If the grand jury says that Mr. Bonner needs killin’ then by God, I will prosecute it that way,” he said in court.

Of course, as an experienced criminal lawyer should know, the grand jury does NOT decide whether the defendant in a capital case "needs killin." It is the prosecutor's prerogative to seek either death or life without parole when a grand jury indicts a defendant for capital murder.

One wonders whether this latter-day "Uncle Tom" had this much killer instinct when he was supposed to be defending capital murder defendants. Maybe that explains the poor performance of MOCPCC?

Too bad the original Uncle Tom didn't have this one's flexibility. He would have enlisted in the Confederate Army.