Unfair Trial? King County Superior Court Case # 20-3-06035-0 SEA

Attorney misconduct, insufficient evidence, improper admission of evidence, procedural errors, inadequate courtroom technology, denial of medical accommodations, insufficient counsel, and judicial misconduct all contributed to an unfair trial. A jury trial was denied. Why has a new trial been denied? Was it denied unlawfully? Each of these topics is being investigated and will be documented below or in separate blogs. An unfair trial that is not reversed can undermine the integrity of the justice system.

Attorney Misconduct

• Attorney Matthew Cooper and Attorney Lisa Fasano submitted knowingly false statements (RPC 8.2) to the court prior to trial that prejudiced the court and has been referenced by other parties. These attorneys made the following false statements in their post-trial FL Divorce 231 submitted to the Court as inputs for FINAL ORDERS:

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  • "All Temporary Parenting Plans in this matter have retained Petitioner as the primary custodian of the child." The first Temporary Parenting Plan was 50/50 and Petitioner was not primary custodian.

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• Attorney Matthew Cooper did not provide timely and sufficient discovery

• Attorney Matthew Cooper did not file pretrial documents on time nor completely, including all proper orders, trial brief and financial documents

• Attorney Matthew Cooper knowingly submitted proposed orders post-trial with false and highly prejudicial statements

• Attorney Matthew Cooper did not attend Discovery Master meetings and CR26 conference

• Attorney Matthew Cooper knowingly provided improper valuations for business, account and property assets

• Attorney Matthew Cooper did not

• Attorney Matthew Cooper did not show up in court for trial. His hours-late arrival forced key witnesses to be excluded by the Court from testifying.

• Attorney Matthew Cooper changed the file names that were uploaded by Respondent days before trial

• Attorney Kathyrn Silk, counsel for Petitioner egregiously and falsely stated in oral argument on June 23, 2022 that the Respondent owned an airplane and implied that her client was impoverished while, in fact, her client was running a surplus of funds. Attorney Lisa Gilmore, co-counsel for Respondent, was forced to submit a statement of counsel to correct the egregious misstatement stated to prejudice the Court against the Respondent, when Attorney Silk did not. Despite Attorney Silk's false and unsupported statements to the Court, her requests were provided. (docket #662, page 6, lines 10-11)

Insufficient Evidence

• Court findings (docket 887) state: " Unclear" what is means

Denial of Jury Trial (docket #828)

• Judge Jason Poydras denied Respondent's jury trial request in pretrial conference, though the case involved significant legal matters of interpreting a prenuptial agreement contract and allegations of domestic violence.

• Judge did not respond to law brief

Improper Admission of Evidence

• Stale, 8-month-old business valuations were accepted by the Court, over objection to submission. Washington State Family Law Handbook states: "..."

• New evidence: Expert reports were allowed submitted though the reports (add Trugman review of Doug McDaniel's report. Doug McDaniel was given an opportunity to correct identify errors and flaws in the report that he submitted to the Court as evidence to mitigate harm, and he did not.

Procedural Errors

Inadequate Courtroom Technology and Document Filing System

Denial of Medical Accommodations (docket #828 - videotaping requested by Pro Se litigant with traumatic brain injury, #901 and #901 trial)

Insufficient Counsel (Petitioner's statements in #901 and #901 trial support that Pro Se litigant with traumatic brain injury was not provided requested and appropriate medical accommodations to perform adequately as counsel)

Judicial Misconduct