Inadmissible

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, which occurred 12 years ago, forever changed the direction of San Antonio lawyer David Navarro's life. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Navarro and fellow Gardere Wynne Sewell associate Michael Newman, who were in New York City working on a litigation project, were sitting in a taxi three blocks north of the World Trade Center. As the taxi turned a corner and Navarro and Newman saw smoke and debris flying everywhere, the Texas lawyers started running back to their hotel, Navarro and Newman told Texas Lawyer 12 years ago. They made it back to their hotel, the Tribeca Grand Hotel, and immediately called their families. They said they had a clear view from their hotel of people jumping from the burning buildings. [See "Texans See the Terror First-Hand," Texas Lawyer, Sept. 17, 2001, page 3.] It took a few days for Navarro and Newman to return to Dallas. They rented a car and drove to Nashville, where they caught a flight back to Dallas. But once he got back to Dallas, Navarro says he his wife decided they wanted to move back to San Antonio, where they had family, friends and a church home at Concordia Lutheran Church. Seeing devastation in New York in 2001 affected Navarro dramatically. "It changed my life," Navarro says of his experiences on Sept. 11, 2001. "My walk with Jesus Christ has really changed since then . . . It caused me to reprioritize what's important. I'm from San Antonio originally, and I moved to Dallas to become a big-time lawyer, and it made me realize that other things were important in life and time with family was paramount," Navarro says. Navarro says he returned to San Antonio in June 2002, and joined San Antonio firm Hornberger Sheehan Fuller Beiter Wittenberg & Garza, where he is now a partner. Navarro says he loved working at Gardere, but he and his wife decided Dallas "wasn't our thing." The couple has two children: Patrick, 12 and Chloe, 7. "I'm in a smaller firm where I still work a lot, but it's different," Navarro says.

"Solitary Isolation" for Dupuy

Like every inmate in the Galveston County Jail, suspended Judge Christopher Dupuy would rather be somewhere — anywhere really — other than his current residence. And the same goes for Dupuy's court-appointed lawyer, who recently filed a motion asking a visiting judge to reconsider his decision to sentence Dupuy to jail for 45 days for contempt of court. Dupuy, judge of Galveston County Court-at-Law No. 3, is currently under indictment for two felony and four misdemeanor charges for actions he allegedly took on the bench, most of them related to disputes he had with family lawyers who appeared in his court. Visiting Judge Ryan Patrick of Harris County's 177th District Court found Dupuy in contempt of court late last month after he violated a gag order in the case and attempted to file criminal charges against the lawyer who is prosecuting him. The confinement is causing "exceptional hardship" to his ability to defend Dupuy, according to the August 3 motion filed by Adam Brown of Houston's DeToto Van Buren & Brown who represents the suspended judge. Brown notes in the motion that he can only communicate with Dupuy by visiting the jail, forcing him to drive from Houston to Galveston every time a meeting is necessary. The motion notes the travel puts him at a trial preparation disadvantage as prosecutors have worked on the case for nine months, while Brown notes he's only been on the case 90 days. Brown's motion also notes that Dupuy has been placed in "solitary isolation," is forced to be in his cell alone for 23 days and has limited access to the law library to help prepare in his own defense. The order asks Patrick with either immediately release Dupuy or reduce his sentence. Patrick has not yet ruled on the motion. Brown did not return a call for comment.

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