Mark John Geragos¹ (born October 5, 1957) is an Armenian-American criminal defense attorney best known for defending the musician Michael Jackson, actress Winona Ryder, politician Gary Condit, and Susan McDougal, who was involved in the Whitewater scandal. He also represented Scott Peterson, in another trial that received widespread media attention.² Geragos is currently representing suspended NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield, Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal, two brothers injured after a tiger escaped in San Francisco Zoo, and musician Chris Brown, who pled guilty of felony assault of his ex-girlfriend Rihanna.³ In addition, he is assisting the family of David Carradine during the investigation of his unusual death.⁴ He is considered a "celebrity lawyer".⁵

Background

Geragos was born in Los Angeles, California. He received his bachelor's degree from Haverford College in 1979 and his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Loyola Law School in 1982.⁶ He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1983.² Currently, Geragos is the managing partner at The Law Offices of Geragos and Geragos, a 13-person law firm in Los Angeles.⁷ Geragos is also a partner of the Law Offices of Luque Geragos Marino LLP in Washington D.C.⁸ Geragos handles criminal defense and civil litigation.

An Armenian-American, Geragos maintains his close relationship with the Armenian community.⁹ He has earned praise from the Armenian National Committee of America¹⁰ He serves on the Advisory Committee of Birthright Armenia,¹¹ as the chairman of Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry,¹² and also is involved the ministry of the Armenian community.¹³ He has been a member of the Armenia Fund International Board of Trustees since 2006.¹⁴

Geragos was of the lead lawyers in a pair of groundbreaking federal class action lawsuits against New York Life Insurance and AXA for insurance policies issued in the early twentieth century during the time of the Armenian Genocide of over 1.5 million Armenians. These two cases settled for over $37.5 million in 2004 and 2005.¹⁵

Geragos represents actor Keith Carradine, actress Hayley Dumond, attorney Stephen Kolodny, designer Donna Dubrow and Lee Dumond in in a class action suit following private eye Anthony Pellicano's illegal wiretapping conspiracy and subsequent conviction.

Notable clients

Susan McDougal

Geragos first came to national attention with the conviction of Whitewater figure Susan McDougal, the former business partner of former President Bill Clinton.¹⁶ Geragos completed his representation of McDougal by securing a presidential pardon for McDougal by President Clinton on January 20, 2001.¹⁷ Geragos also represented McDougal in a twelve-counts embezzlement trial in Los Angeles in which the jury returned a not-guilty verdict.

Winona Ryder

In December 2002, Geragos defended Academy award"“nominated actress Winona Ryder on charges of stealing more than $5,500 worth of merchandise from a Beverly Hills, California store in 2001. She was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to undergo psychological and drug counseling.¹⁸

Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson

In the early stages of the Michael Jackson molestation case, Geragos handled that case as well as Scott Peterson's death penalty case simultaneously. Though he managed a busy workload since he began working as a lawyer, during this time, he was handling two of the United States's best-known cases. Geragos's "...crushingly busy calendar" in the courtroom earned him a rebuke by a judge in an embezzlement case Geragos was also trying.¹⁹

On April 26, 2004, Michael Jackson removed Mark Geragos as his attorney, replacing him with Thomas Mesereau. In a public statement provided by his spokesperson Raymone Bain, Jackson stated, "It is imperative that I have the full attention of those who are representing me. My life is at stake..." suggesting that Geragos may not have had enough time to handle his case considering Geragos's workload.²⁰ Geragos, for his part, later said he was dismayed to see Jackson climb atop a sport utility vehicle to the cheers of his fans after leaving the Santa Barbara County, California courthouse in January 2004 when he was first arraigned on the initial complaint.²¹ Geragos' co-counsel Benjamin Brafman also expressed disapproval of Jackson's actions.²¹ "Although [in January] the lawyers explained the behavior as 'Michael being Michael,' " the New York Times reported, "they are said to have privately expressed consternation at the display of frivolity in the face of serious charges."²¹

Greg Anderson

In 2006, Geragos was back in the headlines for representing Barry Bonds's personal trainer Greg Anderson. On July 5, 2006, Anderson was found in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge William Alsup who jailed Anderson for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating perjury accusations against Bonds. Geragos announced he would file an appeal based on his assertion that the subpoena to testify violated Anderson's July 2005 plea bargain agreement in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative case. [3] Anderson was to be held until he agreed to testify or the grand jury's term expired. Geragos has said his client would not testify. [4] The grand jury expired on July 20, 2006, and Anderson was released from prison two weeks later. [5] On August 28, 2006, Anderson was again found in contempt of court for refusing to testify before a newly convened grand jury and sentenced to prison. [6] Anderson was freed on October 5, 2006 after an order from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Trial Judge had committed legal errors and ordered Anderson's immediate release. Anderson was sent back to jail on November 16, 2006.

Others

In other cases, Geragos won dismissal of felony kidnapping, arson and criminal threats charges against hip-hop star Nathaniel Hale, whose stage name is Nate Dogg. He also won dismissal of all alcohol-related counts against former President Clinton's brother, Roger Clinton, Jr.²² In early 2006, Geragos won the dismissal of a prostitution charge against film director Lee Tamahori.²³

Geragos represented Sarkis Soghanalian, an international private arms dealer of Armenian descent who gained fame for being the "Cold War's largest arms merchant" and the lead seller of firearms and weaponry to the former government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein during the 1980s.

In March 2006, Geragos won a dismissal of special circumstances murder charges against Edmond Ovasapian after he was able to prove that the eyewitness identification of his client was fatally flawed. Ovasapian had an alibi for the time the murder took place, yet Glendale police officers stated in a sworn affidavit that Ovasapian "had no alibi." After vigorously fighting the charges for over eight months, Edmond Ovasapyan had been held without bail for over eight months before being freed from custody. Geragos later filed a civil rights suit against Glendale Police Department and three officers. On February 25, 2009, a jury verdict was awarded to Edmond Ovasapyan for $1,131,000 in damages. Ovasapyan was also awarded punitive damages of $75,000.00 from each of two officers, Ian Grimes and Arthur Frank. The dismissal of Edmond Ovasapyan came on the heels of another exoneration of a Geragos client, Adrian Avedissian, who was freed from custody and his case dismissed by the prosecution after DNA tests conducted by the defense proved that he also had been falsely accused as a result of a flawed eyewitness identification. Adrian Avedissian is currently represented by the Geragos firm in a potential civil suit.

Geragos was also the attorney for Cameron Brown, accused of murdering his four-year-old daughter by throwing her off a Rancho Palos Verdes cliff. The twelve (12) week trial ended in August 2006 without a verdict. The jury deliberated for over nine days but was hopelessly deadlocked and a mistrial was declared by Judge Mark Arnold of the Torrance Superior Court. The case was retried in the fall of 2009 by an associate at Geragos' firm. The second trial also ended with a hung jury.²⁴

Also, Geragos convinced a San Mateo Superior Court Judge to grant probation in a weapons and drug case filed against Victor Willis, former front man for the Village People, the 1970s mega disco group who were made famous by their hits such as "YMCA" and "In the Navy". In addition, Geragos also represented Holly Ashcraft, the University of Southern California co-ed charged with murder in the death of her newborn infant. The Los Angeles Superior Court case ended with Holly Ashcraft receiving a sentence of 5-years probation.

In December 2007, Amphit Dhaliwal and Kulbir Dhaliwal, the two survivors of the tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo hired Geragos to represent them against potential criminal charges and in anticipation of filing a lawsuit against the zoo. Despite pressure from city official, the local police inspector made it clear that there were no grounds for filing criminal charges against the Dhaliwal brothers related to the tiger attack. Geragos filed a federal suit against the Zoo and the City of San Francisco for violation of the Dhaliwal brothers' civil rights, including the Dhaliwals' being subject to search and seizure without probable cause, and for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Geragos settled the civil suit in the early phase of the court process for $900,000.00.

In 2008, he joined the defense of Japanese businessman Kazuyoshi Miura, but Miura committed suicide before his trial.²⁵

On February 8, 2009 he brought Chris Brown to surrender to the LAPD. Later Brown was arrested, and his court date was set to be on March 5, 2009. Geragos and Brown attended the court date, but did not plea and asked for arraignment until the next court date, April 6, 2009. On June 22, 2009, Brown pled guilty to one count felony assault and was sentenced to 5 years probation and 6 months community service.

Legal commentary

Geragos occasionally appears as both guest and legal commentator on the Today show, Good Morning America, 60 Minutes, On the Record, and has appeared numerous times on Larry King Live, including its twentieth anniversary show.¹⁰

Awards

• 1999 - Trial Lawyer of The Year by the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Association.²⁶
• 1999 - Jerry Giesler Memorial Award for Trial Skills, Judgement & Dedication.
• 2001 - Humanitarian of the Year by the Mexican American Grocers Association.
• 2004 - Professional of The Year by the Armenian Professional Society.
• 2005 - Consumer Attorney of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of California.
• 2006 - Attorney of the Year by the California Lawyer magazine.²⁷
• 2008 - Top 10 Verdicts of the State of California - obtained jury verdict in excess of $38 million dollars against a pharmacutical company.

References

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

External links

• Mark Geragos' website
• @markgeragos on Twitter