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Criminal Justice

Chicago Lawyer Accused of Keying Marine’s Car

Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:33 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A Chicago lawyer has been charged with criminal damage to property for allegedly keying the car of a Marine sergeant who backed up when he missed a turn.

The Cook County state's attorney's office contends Jay R. Grodner saw vanity plates and a sticker identifying the car’s owner as a military man, and apparently took offense, Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass reports.

He is accused of scratching the black BMW owned by Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty, who planned to sell the vehicle before his second tour of duty in Iraq. McNulty’s friend, Tom Sullivan, told Kass that Grodner became angry after McNulty backed up to make the turn to his house. McNulty parked the BMW to get Sullivan to go out for breakfast, and saw Grodner as he returned to the car, Sullivan said.

"Mike says, 'Hey, what are you doing to my car? Open up your hand!' " Sullivan told the Tribune. "And [Grodner] goes, '[Blank] you! Just because you're in the military you don't run the roost!' "

According to the police report, Grodner denied scratching the car but did admit to “rubbing past it.”

The next court date for Grodner is Jan. 18. The Volokh Conspiracy, one of several blogs commenting on the case, ponders what will happen if McNulty can't appear in court because of his deployment.

Comments

1.

Bill
Jan 4, 2008 7:22 AM CST

One word comes to mind to describe Mr. Grodner.  Well, actually, several come to mind, but only one that I should post here: JERK.

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2.

Steve Perkins
Jan 4, 2008 7:26 AM CST

Why does this warrant an article here?  Seriously.

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3.

BIGLAW 1ST YEAR
Jan 4, 2008 7:50 AM CST

I think the problem is the ABA doesn’t have anything to report on anymore.  We would all be better served if these articles only came out once every two weeks.

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4.

Zev Grodner
Jan 4, 2008 8:08 AM CST

My answer to #2.  Because it involves a lawyer who is accused of doing something dumb.  There are also stories about military guys who do dumb things, but you have to read military blogs to find out about those dummies.  We’re lawyers and read about our peers who are accused of doing dumb things.  Does anyone in town know if Mr.
Grodner is a good lawyer who had a bad day, or something else?

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5.

Allison
Jan 4, 2008 10:09 AM CST

My answer to #4 - Does it really matter if he is a good lawyer, besides defending himself on the mal misch charge?  Even on my worst day I don’t engage in criminal behavior and I’d like to think the rest of the bar feels the same.  How did we get to the point that a jerky driving manuever became cause for persoanl retirbution in the form of criminal proeprty damage?

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6.

R
Jan 4, 2008 10:42 AM CST

I think everyone’s missing the point here. We need new legislation requiring key owners to have key locks.

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7.

Jeb
Jan 4, 2008 11:22 AM CST

Having vanity plates alone is a good reason to key someone’s car.  Plus the guy was backing-up in the street after missing a turn instead of turning around or circling around the block.  Too bad Grodner got caught.  McNulty sounds like a real jerk to me.  Send him back to Iraq

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8.

Wolfgang
Jan 4, 2008 11:43 AM CST

My answer to #7 - so vanity plates is justification to commit criminal damage to property?  You, sir, are as much an ass as Grodner.  Your vehicle should be keyed for the simple reason that you ARE an ass.  And Grodner should have a complaint filed against him with the Illinois ARDC for conduct bringing disrepute to the profession.  It won’t be his first ARDC complaint, either.

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9.

Barbara Kinzel
Jan 4, 2008 12:52 PM CST

And, as always, I am struck by the simple fact that in this society we have the luxury as well as the freedom to carry on about such matters when Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty is going back, or has already returned, to Irag and placed his life on the line for us.  Please do not misunderstand me; I am against the war.  But I am in support of Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty and every other man and woman in Irag, whatever their nationality, trying to make a terrible situation as good as they possibly can.  I am surprised that Grodner’s County Bar did not offer to pay for the deductible.

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10.

Wm. 'Skip' Arbuckle
Jan 4, 2008 12:53 PM CST

#6 is right on!  The incident is embarrasing for the profession, and for humans.

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11.

Interested Observer
Jan 4, 2008 3:46 PM CST

Keying anybody’s car, for any reason is just plain wrong. Isn’t it bad enough that the law profession has the reputation it does without this kind of disgusting behavior? The only reason we even know that Grodner is a lawyer is BECAUSE he’s a lawyer. If he were a copier repairman we’d likely never have known his profession.

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12.

Steve Perkins
Jan 4, 2008 4:16 PM CST

My answer to #9 - I was waiting for this comment… it’s the only reason this article was posted here in the first place.  The legal field is a huge profession with millions of members, not all of whom are great people.  Some beat their wives, some abuse their kids, some hate puppies and old people.  However, this article got posted (taking care to put “Marine” in the headline) because the war in Iraq is controversal, and blog articles related to it (even tenuously) attract eyeballs.  Cheap heat, ABA Journal… cheap heat.

My answer to #‘s 1-12 - This whole “My answer to…” thing is starting to get silly.  :)

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13.

J.D.
Jan 4, 2008 4:18 PM CST

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS PROFESSION.

It has everything to do with his political leanings.

Liberal ideology is a violent ideology at its core. World history has repeatedly shown us that left-leaning ideology is constantly advanced through force. I hope it’s obvious that Lenin and Stalin pushed left-wing ideals through violence. Less obvious is that Hitler was a liberal. Nazism was a socialist movement; in fact, the Z stands for “socialist” in German. It was based on big government and the elimination of organized religion (sound familiar?). And, of course, Hollywood’s friend Hugo Chavez is shooting college kids to death in the streets.

Conservatives have long known that they run the risk of vehicular damage if they sport even a remotely-conservative bumper sticker. This is a sentiment that most liberals have probably never even contemplated. Only a couple of months ago, in an upscale D.C. neighborhood, MY CAR was damaged (actually written into) by a liberal who opposed my opposition to illegal immigration as indicated on a bumper sticker.

And by the way, any time we have a protest in this city—if it’s violent it’s advancing a liberal cause. Conservative protests here are calm. Our last “anti-war” protest ended in the Capitol building being spraypainted. The protest before that, tons of city property was damaged. The protest before that, Citibank had its windows broken.

It’s a tired theme.

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14.

Robert Wilson
Jan 4, 2008 4:21 PM CST

Lawyers should be above this sort of behavior. They have had a traditional leadership role in our society and as models. This jerk should have his license revoked until he takes the treatment and punishment he needs.

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15.

Ed Wood
Jan 5, 2008 12:19 AM CST

Grodner was caught forging signatures on voter forms 3 months after joining the State Bar of Illinios and his “ounishment”? A censure. It seems Mr Grodner’s attitude with the officers at the scene and the prosecutors shows he has no business being a member of the Bar. Shouldn’t we all be embarrassed by these “lawyers”?

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16.

skg
Jan 6, 2008 10:03 AM CST

Response to J.D. above:  Get real!  I see loads of unvandalized cars sporting anti-abortion and Bush/Cheney stickers every day.

Surely someone somewhere has had their car vandalized or has been threatened for having pro-choice stickers on his or her car.

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17.

MAM
Jan 6, 2008 6:36 PM CST

JD, this is what’s wrong with conservatives - seeing Liberal conspiracies in everything. Geez! None of what you said had anything to do with the article and this thing is out of control and off the subject. Are you happy you got your rant off your chest?

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18.

J.D.
Jan 6, 2008 6:56 PM CST

Response to above posters:

To skg: Hopefully you’re not a lawyer, because if you are, you’ve never learned how to make an argument. “Seeing unvandalized cars” does not negate a trend of vandalizing. My argument: there is a generalized understanding among conservative society that conservatives risk vandalism by applying a bumper sticker to their car. To cancel this out, please tell me that you believe liberals also feel the same concerns to the same extent. If you’re honest, you will not try to claim this.

To MAM, are you happy you got your rant off? I’m sorry that you find it wrong for conservatives to alert you to social phenomenon that you clearly don’t understand. Please put your head back in the sand; that’s clearly the only place you feel safe.

And as to the argument that my post is “off topic”—Let’s see, crazy liberal attacks vehicle of person who is probably more conservative than him on political grounds. Yeah, there’s no connection to my discussion of liberals attacking conservative cars…. Christ, I hope you’re not a lawyer either.

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19.

Mark
Jan 6, 2008 7:02 PM CST

It’s so socially-common for libs to vandalize “conservative cars” that someone has been marketing this product for years:

http://www.authenticgop.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/diversity.jpg

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20.

Mark
Jan 6, 2008 7:06 PM CST

And another example:

http://www.cafepress.com/libertymaniacs.37225748

Clearly this is something more people than J.D. or McNulty have experienced.

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21.

Flip
Jan 7, 2008 12:58 PM CST

Looks like J.D.‘s been a little too much at the Jack Daniels again..

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