The name Sam Trapp meant nothing to me, but then, I’m not familiar with lawyers in Jefferson City, Missouri or the Ozarks. If given a choice and a free flight, chances are pretty good that I would pass. Just the word “Ozarks” scares me, as I hear banjo strumming in the background, followed by the squeal of a pig. Forget that details. That’s where my head goes.
But I had to figure a criminal defense lawyer, even in the Ozarks, still had a basic appreciation of our function. Based upon this assumption, I sent Sam an email last week asking if a comment, posted in his name and with a link back to his website, really reflected his thoughts.
The comment was to my post about how the Travis County, Texas, jail was recording privileged communications between defense counsel and their clients, then sending them over to the prosecution “by accident.” To this outrageous story, the “Trapp Law” comment read:
I may be wrong here, but was the justice system not created to find justice?! So with that being said, what is wrong with prisons handing over video footage of conversations between inmate and their lawyers, if the footage can help justice prevail?
Being generous of spirit, I assumed that this comment, this utterly, flagrantly, outrageously idiotic comment, could not possibly come from a criminal defense lawyer, or indeed, any lawyer at all. Rather, I assumed it was the handiwork of Trapp’s marketeer, who promised to put him on page 1 of Google for Ozark Criminal Defense Lawyer.
So I sent Sam Trapp an email, asking whether he knew about this, whether this reflected the Sam Trapp view of the subject. Did Ozark criminal defense lawyer Sam Trapp really, and I mean really, think that his was a good thing? Did Sam Trapp really think this could “help justice prevail?”
Then I waited. I waited all week long to hear from Sam. I hoped for a response that he was angered and appalled that some marketeer had posted a comment like this, making him look not merely moronic, but dangerous. I waited.
Nothing. There was no response. No apology. No retraction. No appreciation for letting him know what his marketeer was doing to his reputation. Nothing.
I may be wrong here…
Yes, indeed. Very wrong.
Discover more from Simple Justice
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
wow
This is what comes of placing one’s online reputation in the hands of some kid in a boiler room in Bangalore.
Speaking as someone who once spent 10 years in Kansas City, I can set your mind at rest on the Deliverance scenario. Jeff City, the state capitol, is a bit north of St. Louis and nowhere near the Ozarks. Lake Ozark is a city in central Mo that is barely technically in the Ozarks and is near Lake of the Ozarks, which is a large man-made lake that is a popular vacation area surrounded by state parks, golf courses, marinas, and about a zillion little towns. On the whole, there are probably fewer inbred mutants and fig pluckers around that area than you’d find in the Hamptons.
Your comparison to the Hamptons hardly furthers your point.
Scott, please call in to Mr. Trapp’s radio talk show on KRMS next Saturday, noon to 2pm. I’m sure he would love to hear from you. And he can explain his views on justice and the sixth amendment. His show is called Question Everything.
“Question Everything”? Not too ironic. It would actually make for a fascinating moment in radio.
Another reader, Gloria Wolk, asked Trapp via his “contact me” page on his website:
He responded: “I don’t believe it does, but I guess it depends on who gets to choose the definition of justice. Attorney calls with his client are not to be recorded.”
While not quite as forceful a response, he clearly has no idea what his marketeers are doing in his name. I would hope he would be appalled, but then, I would also have hoped he would know better than to put his reputation in the hands of marketeers.