Sibley Taken Off D.C. Madam Case
The alleged D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey is apparently not happy with Washington solo practitioner, Montgomery Blair Sibley. WTOP News reports that Palfrey told U.S. District Judge James Robertson that she has “lost faith” in Sibley, who has been representing her in both the criminal and civil suits surrounding the escort service she once ran.
WTOP reports that after meeting with Palfrey and Sibley for nearly two hours yesterday, the judge decided to take Sibley off of the case. For the time being, Palfrey will represent herself. Neither Sibley nor Palfrey discussed the reasons for the deterioration of their relationship in open court.
Sibley is largely credited for the media frenzy that surrounded the case. He was the one who contacted reporters to tell them Palfrey planned to sell the phone records from her escort service to help pay for her legal troubles.
The Associated Press also reports, via NBC News4, that Judge Robertson ruled Palfrey cannot demand documents from ABC to use for her defense. Palfrey provided the news network with the phone records, which its reporters said contained numbers for a Justice Department prosecutor, NASA officials, and military officers. According to the AP, Palfrey says she cannot locate those officials without obtaining the documents from ABC.
Sibley declined comment to Legal Times, and Palfrey has not returned calls for comment.
DC Madam made a bad move. How many K Street lawyers will take this case. Too many names on her list. Too many conflicts. Representing oneself on the Hill or in the Courts is like watching Christians talking to lions while the Mob looks on. Sibley is one of a kind and of course society now being what it is considers challenges to authority unconstitutional when in fact it is the essence of what that document is all about.
Posted by: Mike Whitney | January 31, 2008 at 08:50 AM