Attorney J. Anthony Rich

Murder charges are formally dropped against Anthony’s client Andrew Lorenzana!

From the Chronicle Telegram:

Murder charges dropped in Lorain shooting

Filed by Brad Dicken December 23rd, 2009 in Top Stories.
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ELYRIA — Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped murder charges against two Lorain men accused in a February shooting even though police say they remain suspects in the case.

Avery Taylor, 19, and Andrew Lorenzana, 20, had been accused of gunning down Christopher Lundberg, 35, on Feb. 3 near the intersection of West 29th Street and Ashland Avenue in Lorain in what police described as a drug buy gone bad. Lundberg died the next day from his wounds.

The pair was arrested later that day and charged with murder in Lorain Municipal Court after Lundberg died. They agreed to waive preliminary hearings, which would have forced prosecutors to lay out some of the evidence against them, in exchange for $50,000 bonds. Their case was sent to county prosecutors to present to a grand jury, but that never happened.

Lorain police Sgt. Mark Carpentiere said Lorenzana and Taylor are still suspects and the case remains under investigation. Prosecutors did not return calls seeking comment.

Taylor’s attorney, Mike Camera, said his client was pleased by the decision to drop the charges against him, but is aware that he could be charged again.

“I believe they dismissed the case to give themselves more time to gather evidence,” Camera said.

Taylor and Lorenzana have both faced additional criminal charges since they were released on bond earlier this year. Both were on GPS monitoring devices when they were accused of taking part in a May 10 home invasion in which a Sheffield Township woman told police she was held at gunpoint while robbers searched her house for crack cocaine and guns.

The woman later identified Taylor and Lorenzana as the robbers, but the GPS device he was wearing cleared Lorenzana a few days later when it showed he was across town at the time of the robbery.

During trial earlier this year, Taylor’s GPS device showed him near the house, but never showed him inside the building. It took a jury an hour to clear him of charges in that case.

Both Taylor and Lorenzana also are facing unrelated misdemeanor charges in Lorain Municipal Court.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

On Friday October 23, 2009, Anthony again appeared live on Tru TV’s (f.k.a. Court TV) “Best Defense” program as a guest of Internationally reknown Trial Lawyer Ron Kuby.  Rich discussed several aspects of an appeal  pending in the Ohio Supreme Court captioned State v. Speer in which he acted as Trial Counsel.  Speer was found not guilty of Aggravated Murder and Murder but was convicted of lesser included offenses.  Those convictions were later overturned.  Videos will be posted soon!

This was the third time Anthony appeared live as a guest analyst and commentator on Court TV.  He was previously the guest of Ashleigh Banfield on “Open Court” and was also invited to speak at length with Jami Floyd.

On Friday October 23, 2009, Anthony appeared live on “Open Court” on Tru TV (f.k.a. Court TV) as a Guest analyst with anchor and host Ashleigh Banfield.  Anthony has previously appeared as a guest commentator and analyst on Court TV’s “Best Defense” as a guest of Jami Floyd.  Video uploads will be posted soon!

On October 5, 2009 Attorney J. Anthony Rich kept client Amanda Jarvis out of jail and was able to convince the government to reduce the Arson charges against her in a local case that received national attention.  Rich claimed the case against his client was “unfair to her and super sensationalized crap” due to an “attempt to sell papers or garner website hits on a relatively quiet night.”

Rich explained in open court that the only evidence a jury would believe at trial was that his client did in fact panic after she ashed her cigarette in the trash can which accidentally ignited some of the paper inside.  Rich stated his client was guilty of smoking in a public place, not arson.  “Amanda has never been in trouble before, and to put her and her family through this is wrong”.  Rich stressed Jarvis cooperated with Police and admitted to being intoxicated.  Rich claims that if needed he would have petitioned the Court to suppress his client’s statements to police as her cooperation was their only evidence.  “There were no eyewitnesses”, Rich stated, “just Amanda’s cooperation”.

Rich stated he was upset when informed by other lawyers that when “Michael Jackson Arson Lorain” is googled, hundreds of media reports and blogs of the initial incident come up, but yet no news entity ever attempted to get to the truth of the actual incident.  “She’s not even a fan of Michael Jackson, she’s a Bowie fan, so I’m glad she beat it, it’s a thriller”.

Fox News Report

Original Chronicle Telegram Report

OFFICIAL CAMBRIDGE POLICE REPORTS: CROWLEY & FIGUEROA’s REPORT- CLICK HERE!

911 OPERATOR: 9-1-1, what is the exact location of your emergency?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Hi, I’m actually at (inaudible) street in Cambridge, the house number is 7 Ware Street.

911 OPERATOR: OK ma’am, your cell phone cut out, what’s the address again?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Sorry, it’s 7 Ware Street. That’s W-A-R-E Street.

911 OPERATOR: The emergency is at 7 Ware Street, right?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Well no, I’m sorry. 17. Some other woman is talking next to me but it’s 17, 1-7 Ware Street.

911 OPERATOR: What’s the phone number you’re calling me from?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: I’m calling you from my cell phone number.

911 OPERATOR: All right, tell me exactly what happened?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Um, I don’t know what’s happening. I just had an older woman standing here and she had noticed two gentlemen trying to get in a house at that number, 17 Ware Street. And they kind of had to barge in and they broke the screen door and they finally got in. When I had looked, I went further, closer to the house a little bit after the gentlemen were already in the house. I noticed two suitcases. So, I’m not sure if this is two individuals who actually work there, I mean, who live there.

911 OPERATOR: You think they might have been breaking in?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: I don’t know ’cause I have no idea. I just noticed.

911 OPERATOR: So you’re saying you think the possibility might have been there? What do you mean by barged in? You mean they kicked the door in?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: No, they were pushing the door in. Like, umm, the screen part of the front door was kind of like cut.

911 OPERATOR: How did they open the door itself with the lock?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: They, I didn’t see a key or anything ’cause I was a little bit away from the door. But I did notice that they pushed their (interrupted).

911 OPERATOR: And what do the suitcases have to do with anything?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: I don’t know, I’m just saying that’s what I saw.

911 OPERATOR: Do you know what apartment they broke into?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: No, they’re just they first floor. I don’t even think that it’s an apartment. It’s 17 Ware Street. It’s a house, it’s a yellow house. Number 17. I don’t know if they live there and they just had a hard time with their key but I did notice that they kind of used their shoulder to kind of barge in and they got in. I don’t know if they had a key or not because I couldn’t see from my angle. But, you know, when I looked a little closely that’s what I saw.

911 OPERATOR: (inaudible) guy or Hispanic?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Umm.

911 OPERATOR: Are they still in the house?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: They’re still in the house, I believe, yeah.

911 OPERATOR: Were they white, black or Hispanic?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Umm, well there were two larger men, one looked kind of Hispanic but I’m not really sure. And the other one entered and I didn’t see what he looked like at all. I just saw it from a distance and this older woman was worried thinking someone’s breaking in someone’s house, they’ve been barging in. And she interrupted me and that’s when I had noticed otherwise I probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all, to be honest with you. So, I was just calling ’cause she was a concerned neighbor, I guess.

911 OPERATOR: OK, are you standing outside?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: I’m standing outside, yes.

911 OPERATOR: All right, the police are on the way, you can meet them then they get there. What’s your name?

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Yeah, my name is (deleted).

911 OPERATOR: All right, we’re on the way.

FEMALE WITNESS CALLER: Ok. All right, I guess I’ll wait. Thanks.

On June 25, 2009, Attorney  J. Anthony Rich, was requested by the State to defend one of the four young men accused of burglarizing the home of the local Honorable Judge David A. Basinski, while his wife was at home.  Rich represents William Q. Brown-Nettles.

The case garnered national attention when Celebrity Chef Emeril Lagasse learned the occupant of the home “bammed” Rich’s client with one of his signature sauce pans.  Lagasse sent her a new set of cookware.

A trial date has not been set.

Anthony, Police and Prosecutors agree that witness clearly mistaken about client’s identification at scene of alleged aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.

Read About it in the Chronicle Telegram!

Read About it in the Morning Journal!

The Story of Chris Ochoa!

Read more here!

How does Anthony demonstrate the Police have botched an ID case?

Answer: Because he knows what they were supposed to do and didn’t!

Gary Wells on 60 Minutes

More on False Memory!

What the U.S. Department of Justice tells Police they should do…but they just don’t!

More Research on False Eyewitness Identification!

For more info:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/understand/Eyewitness-Misidentification.php