Recent statements by lawyer Craig Truman and client Molly Midyette about Midyette’s husband, Alex, and his family are “inflammatory falsehoods,” Alex Midyette’s lawyers have alleged in new court filings.
The filings were made by lawyers Paul McCormick and David Kaplan, who represent Alex Midyette.
The motion was filed in the aftermath of a 16-page March 17 filing by Truman, in which he accused both Alex Midyette and McCormick of intimidating Molly Midyette before her trial in Boulder in December.
Molly Midyette was convicted by a Boulder jury on Dec. 21 of child abuse resulting in death in connection with the death of her 10-week-old son, Jason, who doctors said suffered more than 20 broken bones as well as injuries to his brain.
McCormick says Truman made “scandalous, inflammatory assertions that are patently and demonstrably false” about Alex Midyette and his family.
McCormick and Kaplan asked Boulder District Judge Lael Montgomery to enforce various rules of professional conduct and require filings that may affect Alex Midyette’s right to a fair trial to be sealed.
Both Molly and Alex Midyette were indicted in May 2007 of multiple counts of child abuse resulting in Jason’s death.
In the indictment, prosecutors said Jason not only had broken bones but hemorrhages and contusions to the brain. The baby had a fractured skull, a right clavicle fracture, a left forearm fracture, fractures of both femurs and fractures on both ends of the left tibia.
Molly Midyette, a law-school graduate, was found guilty of child abuse resulting in death after closing arguments in which prosecutors claimed her testimony was riddled with inconsistencies, conflicts and statements that weren’t “supported by common sense.”
Prosecutors claimed that Molly Midyette was already talking about defense strategy with a lawyer at Children’s Hospital in Denver while Jason was being treated there.
The conversations, prosecutors said, were overheard by a social worker.
On March 17, Truman filed a motion asking the judge to set aside the verdict against Molly Midyette, alleging that both Alex Midyette and McCormick had intimidated her.
In it, Truman alleged that Alex had told Molly that if she “ever talked to Craig Truman again about private matters, she would be hurt, her parents would be killed, she would go to jail and she could have no further benefits of being part of the Midyette family.”
Truman also alleged that before she visited with Truman, Molly Midyette was advised by Alex Midyette not to talk to Truman about him at all — the recurring theme, “Don’t tell Truman this, that or the other.”
Truman claimed that Alex Midyette plotted for him and Molly to run away to an undisclosed Caribbean island that wouldn’t require passports.
As far as McCormick, Truman alleged that on the night of Dec. 19, the day before Molly Midyette was to testify in her own defense, McCormick called and spoke with his client.
Truman alleged that McCormick told her, “Whatever you do, do not say one word about Alex Midyette. If you ever suggest that it’s possible Alex had done this accidentally or purposely causing injury, you’re going to jail immediately.”
Midyette claimed she felt threatened and intimidated by McCormick.
But in a scathing rebuttal to the allegations, McCormick called Truman’s filing “outrageous” and claimed it jeopardizes Alex Midyette’s right to a fair trial, now set for May 27.
“Inflammatory falsehoods masquerading as ‘facts’ — about Alex Midyette, his family and counsel — have been willfully disseminated to the public and apparently accepted as true,” said McCormick.
The “so-called facts” are, in large part, the self-serving statements of Molly Midyette and Truman, said McCormick and Kaplan of the law firm of Haddon, Morgan, Mueller, Jordan, Mackey & Foreman.
The two lawyers claimed that Truman’s assertions were not made under oath, have not been subject to cross-examination and apparently have resulted in a waiver of Molly Midyette’s attorney-client privilege.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
