Fake Lawsuit Leaves ‘Tortured Trail’

By Michael McGuire

Frustrating. That’s the word U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon used to describe a case that began three years ago when another judge was duped for a day into approving the $3 million settlement of a fake lawsuit.

In a hearing this morning, defense attorney Robert Lee Jenkins, Jr. stepped aside as counsel for David Copeland-Jackson and requested that another lawyer be appointed to represent the defendant.

“Sometimes these things happen,” said Jenkins in an interview following the short-lived proceedings of the day. He said that a change of counsel may be the result of “a personality difference or a difference in legal strategy… And sometimes it can also be just a simple consequence of a defendant losing faith in his attorney.”

In August 2007, Copeland-Jackson, a convicted child molester, convinced U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle that his accuser had recanted and agreed not to contest a libel lawsuit. Huvelle approved the settlement, unaware of Copeland-Jackson’s conviction until the following day when she was contacted by the Ashland Police Department in Ohio.

Copeland-Jackson is currently charged with presenting Huvelle with false documents that he claimed were sworn affidavits from his accuser.

Leon called this three-year legal ordeal a “tortured trail already, with lots of stops and starts.” The change in counsel will delay the progress of the case, but the judge said he needs someone “in the position to intelligently inform this court as to which direction this trial is going.”

Jenkins’ departure from the case follows Copeland-Jackson’s challenge to a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation affirming his competency to stand trial. In February, Copeland-Jackson, on his own behalf, asked for another examination to determine his mental capacity at the time the offense was allegedly committed. This request has caused problems.

“The alleged conduct… in this case occurred years ago,” Jenkins said. “And for a mental health official to examine him today, in 2010, and reach a conclusion medically about what his state was three years ago would be a real challenge.”

Jenkins said that Copeland-Jackson is able to assist in his defense, despite suffering from several mental disorders diagnosed in the court-ordered exam. The trouble is that the previous exam did not speak to “what his mental situation was at the time of the alleged offense.”

If convicted, Copeland-Jackson faces up to five years in prison for filing the phony civil suit. “If a defendant in federal court is deemed to have been insane at the time that they committed an offense, then technically they would not be guilty of the offense,” Jenkins said.

A determination of insanity at the time of his fake lawsuit could place Copeland-Jackson in a hospital, rather than prison, said Jenkins.

Jenkins said a new attorney could support Copeland-Jackson’s request for a more extensive psychiatric evaluation.

“I think that the court,” Jenkins said, “by way of those comments, was suggesting directly to Mr. Copeland-Jackson that while his motion may not be out of order, from a practical standpoint, it may not be achievable.”