No Jail for Anthony’s “Despondent” Michael Jackson Fan!
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”.
Original Chronicle Telegram Report