Lawyer gets 3-year suspension after alleged shooting of driver at BLM protest
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A Colorado lawyer has received a three-year suspension from law practice following his guilty plea for allegedly shooting the driver of a truck during a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020.
The Colorado presiding disciplinary judge approved the stipulated suspension of James Edward Marshall IV of Alamosa, Colorado, in an April 4 order noted by the Legal Profession Blog.
He had been sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2021 for shooting the driver in the back of the head, report the Alamosa News and the Canon City Daily Record.
The driver, Danny Pruitt of Canon City, Colorado, survived but suffered a traumatic brain injury, according to the local coverage.
Marshall has said he fired his gun because he thought that his wife was in danger of being hit or run over by Pruitt. In reality, Marshall’s wife was behind the truck and not in danger, prosecutors said.
Marshall was initially charged with crimes that included second-degree attempted homicide and first-degree assault. He pleaded guilty to tampering with a deceased human body. Marshall’s lawyer told 9News that there was no factual basis for the tampering charge, but prosecutors wanted Marshall to plead guilty to a class three felony, and Marshall didn’t want to plead guilty to a crime of violence.
At his sentencing hearing, Marshall apologized to the victim, the court and the community for his actions during the protest of George Floyd’s death, according to coverage by the Canon City Daily Record.
“I recognize the incredible irony of protesting unlawful violence against a man and engaging in unlawful violence against a man,” he said.
