WRITTEN BY BILOXI
DIENSTAG, 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
Judge Denied Ms. Palfrey’s Request for Counsel
Judge Kessler said that she would not appoint Montgomery Blair Sibley, Ms. Palfrey’s attorney to replace Preston Burton, Ms. Palfrey’s other attorney. Ms. Palfrey told Judge Kessler in court on Friday that she didn’t want to “represent herself alone against charges that she ran a prostitution ring in Washington.”
Ms. Palfrey wanted Mr. Preston replaced with her longtime civil attorney, Montgomery Sibley. In Ms. Palfrey’s filings, she stated that she had irreconcilable differences with Mr. Preston about how to execute her defense. Now Ms. Palfrey says she may hire Mr. Sibley on her own. This is the second time that Ms. Palfrey has asked Judge Kessler to replace a well-respected defense attorney the court appointed to help her.
Ms. Palfrey has hired a small search and data analysis company in California in which “she hopes will be able to mine a treasure trove of phone records, Congressional papers and other documents to draw up a much longer list of her clients.” Cataphora, the data analysis company, will “analyze thousands of pages of Ms. Palfrey’s old telephone records to names and numbers subpoenaed from telephone companies.” Ms. Palfrey said that she knew most of her clients by “only first names or aliases.” Ms. Palfrey’s telephone records are the only evidence that she has not yet destroyed according to Ms. Palfrey’s attorney Montgomery Blair Sibley. Mr. Sibley said, “This is the way of the future because we don’t have persons talking on the street corner. We have volumes of information flying in the ether and unless you can make sense of it, you can’t make a sustained case.” In an email to me, Ms. Palfrey said, “Mr. Sibley is not court paid, nor court appointed. If he comes on board, he will do so ‘pro bono’, i.e. without compensation or I will have to find money to compensate him, at some future date.” In addition, Ms. Palfrey said, “Mr. Burton is also a court- paid attorney.” Also, Ms. Palfrey said, “Unfortunately, each previous appointed attorney has treated my situation as a mere prostitution case. My case doesn’t and never has had anything to do with prostitution. No doubt, it has something to do with ‘something’. However, it sure as heck has nothing to do with a state misdemeanor charge. I have no money to hire this [Cataphora] firm. It is my hope – if necessary – the Court will issue the requisite funds to utilize Cataphora’s services.” It is unclear what will come from the search of Ms. Palfrey’s old telephone records from Cataphora, but I will continue to follow the outcome.
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