LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A pro-Trump lawyer who is facing felony charges in Michigan of improperly accessing voting equipment following the 2020 presidential election has been disqualified from representing a prominent funder of election conspiracy theorists who is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems.
Michigan lawyer Stefanie Lambert has been representing Patrick Byrne, the founder of Overstock.com, in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by Dominion, one of the main targets of conspiracy theories over former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Lambert was disqualified from the case on Tuesday after admitting to releasing thousands of confidential discovery documents that she had agreed to keep private.
Due to Lambert’s actions, the documents that all parties “had agreed to keep confidential, have now been shared widely in the public domain,” U.S. District Court Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya wrote in a 62-page opinion.
“Lambert’s repeated misconduct raises the serious concern that she became involved in this litigation for the sheer purpose of gaining access to and publicly sharing Dominion’s protected discovery,” wrote Upadhyaya.
Lambert's lawyer, Daniel Hartman, said by phone Wednesday that Lambert would be “appealing the decision.”
“We are appealing,” Byrne wrote in a text to The Associated Press. “They may think it was a tactical victory, but they will come to understand it was a strategic mistake.”
Lambert acknowledged earlier this year passing on records from Dominion Voting Systems to “law enforcement.” She then attached an affidavit that included some of the leaked emails and was signed by Dar Leaf — a county sheriff in southwestern Michigan who has investigated false claims of widespread election fraud from the 2020 election — to a filing in her own case in Michigan. The rest of the documents were posted to an account under Leaf’s name on the social platform X.
As a result, Dominion filed a motion demanding Lambert be removed from the Byrne case for violating a protective order that Upadhyaya had placed on documents in the case. It said Lambert’s disclosure had triggered a new round of threats toward the company, which has been at the center of elaborate conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss.
The request was described by Upadhyaya as “extraordinary” but necessary after Lambert has repeatedly shown she “has no regard for orders or her obligations as an attorney.”
In a separate case, Lambert has been charged in Michigan with four felonies for accessing voting machines in a search for evidence of a conspiracy theory against Trump. She was arrested by U.S. Marshals earlier this year after a Michigan judge issued a bench warrant for missing a hearing in her case.
Along with a local clerk in Michigan, Lambert has also been charged with multiple felonies, including unauthorized access to a computer and using a computer to commit a crime, after transmitting data from a local township’s poll book related to the 2020 election.
Lambert has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Lambert sued unsuccessfully to overturn Trump’s loss in Michigan.
Biden won Michigan by nearly 155,000 votes over then-President Trump, a result confirmed by a GOP-led state Senate investigation in 2021.
Dominion filed several defamation lawsuits against those who spread conspiracy theories blaming its election equipment for Trump’s loss. Fox News settled the most prominent of these cases for $787 million last year.
Dominion’s suit against Byrne is one of several the company has filed against prominent election deniers, including MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and attorney Sidney Powell.
Associated Press reporter Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
FILE - Patrick Byrne speaks during a panel discussion at the Nebraska Election Integrity Forum in Omaha, Neb., Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)
FILE - Stefanie Lambert stands outside the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac, Mich., March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Corey Williams, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A$AP Rocky turned down a final prosecution plea offer of 180 days in jail, risking the possibility of a guilty verdict and years in prison as jury selection began at his trial on Tuesday.
The agreement offered to the 36-year-old hip-hop star, fashion mogul and actor was to plead guilty to one of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Los Angeles County prosecutors would also recommend a seven-year suspended sentence, three years of probation and the six-month jail term.
But Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, told a judge he respectfully declined.
He is accused of firing at a former friend near a Hollywood hotel in 2021, and could get a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.
Rocky's attorney Joe Tacopina also revealed for the first time in court Tuesday that the defense plans to call witnesses to testify that a firearm seen on a security video is a starter pistol that Rocky carried as a prop for security.
A panel of more than 100 prospective jurors were summoned to the downtown Los Angeles courtroom and packed into the gallery. Opening statements will come once 12 of them and alternates are seated. That won't be until at least Wednesday, when selection is set to resume. Cameras will be allowed in the courtroom starting with openings.
The Grammy-nominated hip-hop star's longtime partner is Rihanna, and the couple have two toddler sons together. Tacopina suggested that it's unlikely the pop star will show up in court.
Rocky has been named one of the celebrity chairs of the Met Gala in May, and has a major role in a Spike Lee-directed film with Denzel Washington to be released soon after. But his life could be upended with a conviction.
Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold has said he hopes to seat a jury quickly, and is keeping strict limits on how long attorneys can question prospective jurors.
“Mr. Mayers is an entertainer," Arnold told the prospective jurors. "His stage name is A$AP rocky. His life partner is also an entertainer. Her name is Rihanna. Because Mr. Mayers is an entertainer, a celebrity, that cannot harm him, and it cannot benefit him."
Of the initial 12 jurors questioned, four said they knew who Rocky was, and 10 said they knew who Rihanna was.
In 2023, another judge ruled after a preliminary hearing that Rocky should stand trial on charges that he fired a gun at Terell Ephron, a childhood friend who testified that their relationship had soured and a feud came to a head on the night of Nov. 6, 2021. Ephron testified that bullets grazed his knuckles.
Initial questioning on Tuesday revealed that the recent Los Angeles-area wildfires have affected many of the potential jurors' lives, including one woman who is fostering many displaced animals, and at least one man who had to evacuate. The judge himself revealed he had to evacuate from his home for 11 days.
“Luckily the house didn’t burn down," Arnold said.
One man was excused early in the process because he said his anti-gun feelings were too strong for him to be fair.
Tacopina tried to explore the potential jurors' feelings about hip-hop artists and their music, and several said they had negative feelings, though not overwhelming ones. Some cited parenting as the reason.
“I used to love it but then I had a kid,” one panelist said.
Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, questioning for the prosecution, told those with negative feelings, “You will not be called upon to render a verdict on how you feel about rap music, do you understand that?" All said yes.
Tacopina, who like his client Rocky is from New York and has represented President Donald Trump, also asked whether anyone on the jury is rubbed the wrong way by New Yorkers, bringing laughs throughout the room.
“When I get up here with this ridiculous accent, which I try not to have but I do, is anyone going to have a problem?" he said. “I will point out that we gave you guys the Dodgers a few years ago.”
No one conceded any negative feelings.
“I love LA," the lawyer added.
FILE - A$AP Rocky, left, and Rihanna attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York on Sept. 13, 2021. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Rapper A$AP Rocky at Pre-Grammy Gala And Salute To Industry Icons in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2019. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Rapper A$AP Rocky appears in a Los Angeles Superior courtroom on Aug. 17, 2022, where he pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool, File)