A lawyer who told jurors his capital murder client was a “professional drug dealer” and a “shooter of people” has been disbarred for “inexplicable incompetence.”Sure, he basically served as a witness for the prosecution during his client's trial -- with the death penalty on the line, no less -- and he made no effort to actually mount a defense of innocence (or even reasonable doubt):
At trial, Hawver described his client, Phillip Cheatham Jr., as a “professional drug dealer” and a “shooter of people,” according to findings of fact cited by the state supreme court. During the sentencing phase of the trial, he said the killer should be executed. “I had a single mitigator to offer the jury in sentencing,” Hawver said in an affidavit, “and that was my argument that my client was innocent.”None of that is what makes Kansas lawyer Dennis Haver truly special. Not content to get his client convicted, he also was determined to lose his own hearing on charges of his incompetence, and he did so in a very, um, special way:
Hawver didn’t investigate alibi witnesses and didn’t track his client’s cellphone to find his location at the time of the murders, the court said.
The Kansas Supreme Court posted its opinion (PDF) on Friday as well as a video of oral arguments in which Dennis Hawver appeared dressed as Thomas Jefferson.Yes, you read that correctly: he showed up at his incompetence hearing dressed as Thomas Jefferson, thereby putting himself in danger of being found not merely incompetent as an attorney, but just generally mentally incompetent, as well. I mean, damn, y'all! Naturally, I would not leave you hanging. Here is the video of his hearing. You can skip to 5:17 to see his get-up and, if you really want a treat, watch his argument to the Kansas Supreme Court starting at 22:38:
My only question is, will he dress as Thomas Jefferson when he shows up for his first temp project next week? OK, two questions: is that business casual?
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