Saturday, February 26, 2011

Carmel W Sanders - Macon, GA Attorney - A Real Piece of Work

What a piece of work this ambulance chaser is. This is a prime example of how judges and lawyers work together to protect each other's interests while screwing the rest of us.

Carmel Sanders sure seems hell bent on making others "pay" for the crimes she deems they have committed while she skates on the actual ones she commits.

But then that is no big surprise, is it?


http://savannahnow.com/stories/020100/LOClawyerpleas.shtml

Lawyer chooses not to fight, pleads no contestSanders accepts misdemeanor punishment to spare her children, career.

Her position was clear -- she did not commit the crime charged but chose not to contest her guilt to protect her children and law practice.

Carmel Sanders, a domestic-relations lawyer, exchanged her role as lawyer for that of criminal defendant Monday, testifying she would not contest the misdemeanor charge of simple battery. She accepted a 12-month sentence -- suspended upon the completion of 50 hours of community service with Georgia Legal Services, payment of a $250 fine and completion of an anger-management course.

"It is very difficult to stand here today and plead (no contest) to a crime I did not commit," Sanders, 43, told Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass Jr.

What happened

Attorney Carmel W. Sanders pleaded no contest -- under a plea that allowed her to maintain she was not guilty but pleading in her best interest -- to a single simple-battery charge that she struck her ex-husband with her car April 8, 1999.

Her sentence: 12 months suspended, a $250 fine, 50 hours of community service with Georgia Legal Services and completion of an anger-management program.

In return, Special Prosecutor John Johnson III dropped misdemeanor charges of battery, reckless conduct, two counts of cruelty to children and felony charges of two counts of cruelty to children and aggravated assault.

The charge stemmed from a domestic incident April 8 at the home of her ex-husband, James Thomas Sanders, 44, of 8 Mistletoe Court. Prosecutors charged she backed her car over Sanders, injuring him.

Bass accepted the negotiated plea over the objections of the victim, who told the court a plea to simple battery "will not give me any protection if she comes back again."

He asked Bass not to accept the plea, calling it a "travesty of justice."

According to Sanders, his ex-wife intentionally ran him over with her car, rolling him under it and causing him serious injury -- including his back and knee -- which will require $20,000 in surgery to repair. She then slammed his hand in her car door and fled the scene, Sanders said.

In return for the plea, Special Prosecutor John Johnson III agreed to dismiss the remaining seven charges in the indictment -- including three felony counts.
Removal of the felony charges was important because a conviction on any one could have cost Ms. Sanders her license.
"This will have no effect on her law practice," defense attorney Steven Scheer told Bass.

Johnson, chief assistant district attorney in the Brunswick Circuit working out of Jesup, was named special prosecutor after District Attorney Spencer Lawton Jr. disqualified himself because Ms. Sanders is a former assistant in his office.

Court records showed that Ms. Sanders, who lives on the 1700 block of Montgomery Cross Road, went to her ex-husband's house to get her two elementary school-aged children and the pair began to argue. The indictment states that both children were present and witnessed the alleged attack. The cruelty to children charges stem from their presence during the alleged attack.

Their 20-year marriage ended in August 1997, but such issues as custody and at least four contempt-of-court citations against James Sanders remained under court seal from public inspection.

In her statement to the court, Ms. Sanders said could not fight the charges and let her two children to be called to testify in a court battle. "I cannot allow that to happen," Ms. Sanders said.

She told Bass she remained in the marriage "as long as it was in the best interest of my children. When the marriage ceased to be in their best interest, I filed for divorce."

She said her ex-husband was determined to ruin her. Sanders "is so intent on destroying me (that) he does not care if he destroyed the children in the process," she said.

http://savannahnow.com/stories/020100/LOClawyerpleas.shtml