“It’s incredibly disturbing to see an attorney involved in these types of issues,” said Michelle R. Suskauer, a partner at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein. “But mental health hits everyone, whether you’re an attorney or a doctor. It’s blind to professions.”
Michelle was recently featured in a Law.com Daily Business Review article discussing the murder charges for Florida lawyer Brandon Labiner:
South Florida lawyer Brandon Labiner was already facing disciplinary action when prosecutors charged him with murder, and his father might have been his victim.
But criminal defense lawyers not involved in the case said the attorney’s alleged spiraling mental health and a slew of personal hardships might factor into his defense.
Brian Bieber, a shareholder at Gray Robinson in Miami, said Labiner, whom Palm Beach Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe ordered held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder, could assert “a potential insanity defense” by citing a stillbirth by Labiner’s ex-wife.
“There is certainly a potential insanity defense if he didn’t know right from wrong, or if he did know right from wrong, he had the inability to choose based on the mental illness. If it didn’t rise to that level, there is something called diminished mental capacity,” Bieber said, noting that mental health expert witnesses will play a key role in substantiating these defenses.
Read the full article in Law.com: Daily Business Review
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