PACIFIC LAW CENTER AT CENTER OF LEGAL CONTROVERSY
Pacific Law Center At Center Of Controversy
April. 10, 2008
SAN DIEGO - A local woman says she had sex with one of her brother's lawyers and claims the attorney gave her $8,000 and a BMW while her brother awaited trial.
Defendant Antoine McElroy eventually pleaded guilty to attempted murder but is now trying to get his plea deal thrown out. Mcelroy's new lawyer claims that his client's former attorneys pushed him to take the deal and did not properly represent him.
Mcelroy family paid $31,000 for legal representation during the case, but his new attorney says Pacific Law Center, which advertises heavily in the local media, did a substandard job in representing Mcelroy. Mcelroy new lawyer claims that Pacific Law Center compromised its work in part because attorney Alan Spears had an intimate relationship with Mcelroy's sister, Patrice Smalls.
Spears said Smalls' allegations are "unsubstantiated and irrelevant," and that the effort to undo the plea bargain is a "publicity stunt."
Smalls claims that the alleged relationship harmed her brother's defense and helped put him behind bars for more than 30 years.
"We went straight to the room," Smalls testified on Thursday.
"The hotel room?" she was asked.
"Uh-huh," she replied.
"Did you and Mr. Spears have a sexual encounter that evening?" she was asked.
"Yes," she told the court.
Another Pacific Law Center attorney testified that Mcelroy approved the plea bargain, which was explained in detail to him and to his family.
"At the time in court that we were working out the plea bargain, I called his family and discussed it with them from the court room, and they were appraised the whole time of what was happening," Arthur Katz testified.
For their part, prosecutors maintain that Mcelroy knew what he was doing when he accepted the plea bargain.
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