Legal Ethics

Lawyer Accused of Kicking in Door, Battery of Boyfriend and Officer, Plus Carrying Knife in Bra

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An Indianapolis attorney is facing three felony charges after allegedly taking the law into her own hands when she suspected her boyfriend might be with another woman.

Police said Olubunmi Okanlami kicked in the front door of her unidentified boyfriend’s home as he was sleeping inside and went on the attack, beating him on the stairway and pulling out clumps of his hair before he ran back into his bedroom and locked the door, reports WISH-TV.

Later, after she was taken into custody, a female deputy, prompted by a metal detection scan, allegedly discovered Okanlami had been carrying a switchblade between the two bras she was wearing. The lawyer is next accused of slapping a deputy in the face and clawing at the officer’s eye, drawing blood, according to charging documents.

She was charged with three felonies in the Nov. 20 incident—battery of her boyfriend, being a prisoner in possession of a dangerous weapon (the switchblade) and battery of a corrections officer—and released on $5,000 bond.

The television station couldn’t reach her for comment, but Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi notes, “She is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

According to Kokomo Perspective, she worked as a labor and employment associate at Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis before taking a position as city attorney of Kokomo, Ind., earlier this year. However, she is not currently listed on the city’s website as city attorney and a woman answering the phone for the city says Okanlami no longer holds that position.

A Barnes & Thornburg spokesman says she left the law firm in July 2009. The ABA Journal was unable to obtain a phone number at which Okanlami herself could be reached.

She graduated from Indiana University School of Law in 2007, according to her LinkedIn page.

Hat tip: Above the Law.

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