SIGNIFICANT CASES

CRIMINAL APPEAL.

Debra Milke Death Penalty case.

     Mr. Rosenquist represented Debra Milke after she was convicted of conspiiracy to murder her son and sentenced to death.

     Mr. Rosenquist represented Debra in a Post-Conviction Relief (PCR) petition in State Court. The PCR was appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court, where the conviction and sentence of death was affirmed, and an execution order issued. As time was running, Mr. Rosenquist obtained a Stay of Execution Order from the Federal Court, and filed the initial Habeas Corpus Petition.

     The only evidence against Debra was a confession she purportedly made to a police officer. Debra had always denied making the confession. The confession was suspect because the officer did not record it, even though his supervisor told him to, and it was not witnessed, even though another police officer was outside the room where the alleged confession occurred. 

     After months of investigating the police officer's background, going through all the court cases during the officer's career, (approx. 1800), and finding all the cases he was involved in, (approx. 80). Mr. Rosenquist uncovered a number of cases where a Judge found the officer was lying in court proceedings.

     During the time Debra was in jail, the head Psychiatrist formed an opinion that Debra did not have the capacity to kill her child. Debra was terrified of going to trial, so the psychiatrist taught her how to control her emotions. He was scheduled to testify at trial, to explain her lack of emotion, but the Judge did not allow it. At trial Dedra was emotionless during her testimony, which made her appear cold hearted and unremorseful. The jury did not hear evidence of the police officer's history of lying, or hear the psychiatrist's testimony of why she did not show emotion when testifing, and found her guilty.

     The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Debra's conviction based on the jury not hearing evidence of the police officer's history of lying. The case was remanded for a new trial. The case was dismissed by the State Appellate Court for prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecutor's office disregarded the officer's history of lying, and kept using his testimony in subsequent cases, without divulging his history of lying.

     A book was written about Debra's case. A detailed account of her life and the circumstances leading to her conviction and dismissal of the case.

Title: A Stolen Life, The Debra Milke Story

Author: Jana Bommersbach

Published: 2019

CRIMINAL TRIAL.

      Mr. Rosenquist represented the vice president of a company in a Federal court trial involving six defendants. They were charged with multiple counts of Securities Fraud. They were accused of running a scheme that stole fourteen million dollars from investors. The president of the company, who mastermined the scheme, was given immunity to testify against the other defendants. The trial lasted six weeks and ended in a dead locked jury on Mr. Rosenquist's client. A new trial was ordered. In the interim Mr. Rosenquist negotiated with the District Attorney and FBI agents, and obtained a dismissal of the case with prejudice. 

CIVIL TRIAL.

     Mr. Rosenquist represented Meadowlark Lemon, of Harlem Globetrotters fame, in a lawsuit were he sued the owner of the Globetrotters and FUBU, a clothing designer, for using Meadolark's name, number, and image on a line of clothing, without his permission. The jury awarded Meadowlark $800,000.00.

CIVIL SETTLEMENT.

     Mr. Rosenquist represented a client in a lawsuit against Maricopa County and the City of Phoenix. The claim was based on negligence of employees. At night his client was riding a bicycle on a bicycle path along a canal. The employees had closed an unmarked gate across the path. His bicycle hit the gate, he flipped over the handle bars and broke his neck. He was rendered a paraplegic. The case settled for $3.5 million.