Thinking About Helping Someone?
January 01, 2011
Anne Danaher made several people - including some already-filthy-rich lawyers - millions of dollars. She's been throw aside like a whore rather than a heroine:
Anne Danaher stands amid a mountain of file boxes crammed with court documents, police reports, videotapes and receipts.
“For more than nine years,” she says, gesturing toward the cardboard stacks, “this was my life.”
Danaher, a soft-spoken Kansas City woman with two years of college and no legal experience, helped gain the release in 2003 of a convicted killer who had spent 25 years behind bars in Iowa.
She methodically tracked down evidence that pointed to another suspect, racking up thousands of dollars in expenses and taking on three jobs at a time before the prisoner, Terry Harrington, was set free.
Now Harrington has won a $7 million settlement — and Danaher hasn’t received a dime.
Gerry Spence's law firm would have gotten at least 50% of that money. They won't share anything with her. Harrington also isn't sharing any of his money with the woman who set him free.
The article is funny, too, when you look at the Spence Firm's relationship with Harrington. When Harrington was in prison, the Spence Firm wanted nothing to do with him. Once Harrington was free, then Spence found a conscience, taking Harrington on as a client. How typical of Gerry - always a warrior for justice when the fight isn't freeing an innocent man from prison, but instead involves skimming 50% off of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.
I can hear the moralists now. Virtue is its own reward. Danaher should be proud of herself. Maybe your platitudes will keep her heat on.
Meanwhile, partnership distrubtions at the Spence Law Firm were recently paid. A lot of lawyers who cared nothing for Harrington when he was friendless-but-for-Danaher had very Merry Christmases, while Danaher's latest fight is with insolvency.
As for Harrington, though unlawful imprisoned, he, too, is a monster. Had Danaher not spent almost a decade of her life and hundreds-of-thousands of her own dollars, Harrington would still be in prison.
Harrington is the reason lawyers do not do more pro bono. The person Danaher ruined herself setting free won't even toss her some scraps. While it's awful that people are wrongfully imprisoned, one can see why police felt no guilt setting Harrington up.