Richard S. Jaffe

Also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, Rudolph was charged with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics as well as the bombings of an abortion clinic in Sandy Springs, Georgia (January 1997); a lesbian bar in Atlanta (February 1997); and an abortion clinic Birmingham, Alabama (January 1998). Jaffe represented Rudolph following his arrest in 2003, but withdrew from the case after 14 months.[11]

Cochran was convicted of murdering Stephen Ganey in Jefferson County, Alabama. In his fourth trial, Jaffe successfully argued that Cochran, who was arrested hiding in the bushes hundreds of yards from where the fatal shot was fired, could not have shot the store manager with a gun that was defective, and could not have moved the victim's body and hidden it under a trailer. Cochran was acquitted of the murder and released from prison after serving 19 years on death row.[12]

Police arrested Drinkard in 1993 for the murder of Dalton Pace. Two years later he was convicted and sentenced to death row. Drinkard’s conviction rested mostly on the testimony of his half-sister, Beverly Robinson, and her common law husband, Rex Segar. In 2001 the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the conviction and death sentence and ordered a new trial because prosecutors had improperly introduced evidence of his involvement in unrelated property crimes. Jaffe represented Drinkard in his second trial, which resulted in his acquittal and release in 2001.[13]

In 1990 Padgett was convicted of murdering his estranged wife by stabbing her forty-six times then raping her corpse. The jury recommended life in prison without parole, but then-Marshall County Circuit Judge William Jetton overruled the jury and sentenced Padgett to death. He spent three years on death row until the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals granted Padgett a new trial. Jaffe represented Padgett in his second trial. Jaffe successfully argued that someone staged the rape and planted his DNA in her. After deliberating for three days, the jury found Padgett not guilty.[14]

Gratton was accused of murdering her live-in boyfriend, Warren King, in March 1994. King was a government witness in the racketeering and extortion trial of former Jefferson County District Judge Jack Montgomery. King’s body was found two weeks before he was to report to prison for his role in aiding Judge Montgomery’s extortion of two drug dealers. At the time of his murder, King was seeking to implicate additional players in the Montgomery case in exchange for a reduced sentence. Jaffe represented Gratton in two trials, both ending in a hung jury resulting in mis-trials. Gratton ultimately entered an Alford (best-interest) to manslaughter for probation after she agreed to serve eighteen months in prison.[15]

In 2004, Montez Spradley was convicted of murdering Marlene Jason, a 58-year-old lunchroom cashier at Mountain Brook Middle School. Overruling a 10-2 vote of the jury, Alabama Judge Gloria Bahakel sentenced Spradley to death.[16] In 2011, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Spradley’s conviction and death sentence, and ordered a new trial on related witness tampering charges. Jaffe joined Spradley’s defense team and became his lead attorney following the Court of Criminal Appeals decision. Spradley entered an Alford (best interest) plea in 2013 and was released from prison in 2015.[17]

Ollis Madden, a 16-year-old, was charged with murder in Gadsden, Alabama. His case reached the United States Supreme Court. Following that, Jaffe was able to demonstrate that Madden's fifth and six amendment rights were violated due to improper interrogation techniques conducted by police detectives. Ultimately, his murder case was dismissed.[18]

Demetrius Watson, a former marine, was indicted in 2013 for the shooting death of Lisa Langston. In a decision that was ultimately held up by the Alabama Supreme Court, the case was dismissed after Jaffe successfully argued that Watson was immune from prosecution under Alabama's stand your ground law. This was the first successful use of this defense in Alabama.[19]

Along with Larry Whitehead, Matthew Hyde and James Stephen Brookshire, Shannon Mitchell an attorney in Marshall County, Alabama was charged with conspiring to murder an Albertville police officer in 1995. Two of the four defendants received the death penalty. Jaffe represented Mitchell who was found not guilty.[20]

In 2008, Cheryl Braswell Gutherie, a Huntsville, Alabama attorney and former candidate for the United States House of Representative, was accused of securities fraud by deceiving her client, Mariko Redcross. The case was dismissed at the preliminary hearing.[21]

In September 2017, Oliver Robinson, a former Alabama-State legislator, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, four counts of fraud, one count of bribery and one count of tax evasion. He cooperated with the U.S. Attorney's office and testified during the bribery trial of former Drummond Vice President of Government Affairs David Roberson and former Balch attorney Joel Gilbert this summer. Striking a deal, he was sentenced to a total of 33 months in prison and a supervised release period of three years.[22]