John Henry Browne has been a famous – or infamous – Seattle defense attorney for decades, counting Ted Bundy, “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore, and Wah Mee shooter Benjamin Ng among his high-profile clients. Never one to shun the spotlight, Browne is getting attention these days for a case where he is the defendant.
According to the Seattle Times, “an already nasty battle between celebrity defense attorney John Henry Browne and another prominent Seattle lawyer has turned even nastier, with each filing a flurry of new personal allegations against the other in King County Superior Court.”
It seems that Browne has angered the wrong attorney with his latest abuse of the judicial system. Again from the Times, “fresh off scoring a legal victory against Browne, attorney Karen Koehler is now contending that Browne, who is opposing her in a high-profile wrongful-death case, is engaged in an ‘inappropriately intimate relationship’ with his client, accused killer Tracy (Nessl) McNamara. Koehler claims Browne’s relationship with McNamara has clouded his professional judgment, fueling “increasingly erratic personal attacks” on Koehler and prompting an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit brought against Koehler and her firm on behalf of McNamara. A judge tossed out that lawsuit last month, ruling it had no merit.”
Despite his previous loss to Koehler, Browne is fighting back with new charges of his own, writing in one motion that Koehler is “damaging Mr. Browne’s ethics and reputation and abusing the independence of the press, the Bar Association and the thoughtful demeanor of this Court.”
One has to ask, however, given Browne’s notorious courtroom behavior and his client list, how it would be possible that his “reputation” could be damaged further?
Lawyer is a corruption of the word Liar?