Anne Bremner

Anne Melani Bremner (born June 4, 1958) is a Seattle, Washington-based trial attorney. She has performed legal work on a number of high-profile cases, including in the murder of Meredith Kercher in Italy as legal counsel and a spokesperson for the Friends of Amanda Knox, and as the lawyer for the family of Rebecca Zahau following her death in California.

Early life and education

Bremner is one of four children born to psychiatrist James Douglas Bremner and Linnea Marie Leonardson. Her father's ancestors migrated to the United States from Banffshire, Scotland in the 1840s. Bremner attended Stanford University, where she studied medieval history, graduating in 1980. She describes her student self as "a liberal, an idealist, and a Democrat" who was opposed to capital punishment. She went on to Seattle University, where she completed her J.D. degree in 1982.

Career

From 1983 to 1988, she was a deputy prosecuting attorney with the criminal division of the King County Prosecutor's Office, specializing in sex crimes. During these years she came into contact with a number of high-profile cases, such as the Wah Mee massacre trials; this experience, along with those later in her career, began to modulate her views on the death penalty. In 1985, she was deputy prosecuting attorney in a case against a University of Washington policeman believed to be the first person to be charged under the state's new computer trespass law; a trial court convicted the policeman of the charges, but the Washington Court of Appeals overturned his conviction.

During her career in private practice, Bremner represented law enforcement and judges in various civil and criminal cases. In 1996, she successfully defended the Seattle Police Department's use of police dogs to find and bite suspects against an American Civil Liberties Union challenge claiming that it violated suspects' civil rights and constituted excessive force. In 2001, she represented the Bellevue Police Department during the inquest into the conduct of officer Mike Hetle during his second fatal shooting that year; the jury found that Metle had reason to fear death or serious bodily harm. In the 2002 case Vili Fualaau v. Highline School District and the Des Moines Police Department, filed by the family of Mary Kay Letourneau's student Vili Fualaau, Bremner successfully defended the police department against liability for damages. She became acquainted with Letourneau during the course of the lawsuit, and the two remained friends afterwards. In October 2008, Bremner went outside of her typical role as a defender of police to take up the cause of Amanda Knox, a University of Washington student charged with the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. She was contacted by family members of Knox's classmates, including Mike Heavey, a superior court judge with whom she was previously acquainted. The group would go on to hold fundraisers to pay for Knox' defense, lobby lawmakers, and conduct public relations activities; they succeeded in turning media focus towards the conduct of the prosecution, especially Perugia chief prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. Bremner made various television appearances regarding the case, describing Knox as "naive" and comparing her to the title character in the French film Amélie.

In 2011, Bremner began working with the bereaved family of Rebecca Zahau after the San Diego County Sheriff's Department closed its investigation into Zahau's death with the conclusion that she had committed suicide. The family strongly believed that Zahau had not committed suicide. Bremner herself expressed derision at the suicide finding, stating that it "doesn't pass the smell test" and that "This would be the first case in the history of the world that a woman killed herself like this ... It's ridiculous on the face of it.". She appeared on television and gave media interviews relating to the case. Some of her statements attracted negative attention from Zahau's boyfriend and Medicis Pharmaceutical CEO [[Jonah Shacknai].

Other activities

Aside from her work as an attorney, Bremner also appears on television as a legal analyst, explaining prominent cases to the general public. In 2004, she appeared on Court TV covering the trial of Scott Peterson for the murder of Laci Peterson. Similarly in 2005, she took aleave of absence from her job to offer television commentary on People v. Jackson, stating that the publicity had brought in millions of dollars of business for her firm. In 2003, she was one of the founding members of the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town, along with Washington Supreme Court justice Phil Talmadge. The group was formed to pressure the Hearst Corporation and the Seattle Times Company to continue printing their respective newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times, under their joint operating agreement signed in 1982. The group specifically opposed an attempt by the Times to dissolve the JOA and permit Hearst to close the Post-Intelligencer in exchange for 32% of the Times' profits for 80 years. However, in March 2009, the Post-Intelligencer printed its last paper edition and moved to an online-only format. In an e-mail about the event, Bremner stated: "What a terribly sad day this is. Only tomorrow will be worse."

DUI conviction

On June 3, 2010, the night before her birthday, Bremner had dinner and wine with a group of professional acquaintances, including U.S. District Court judge Carolyn R. Dimmick and former Washington Supreme Court judge Rosselle Pekelis. Both stated that Bremner had no issues of balance, coordination, or speech at the time she left the dinner. After leaving, Bremner drove towards another friend's house in the Bothell-Kenmore area in her BMW. Bremner stated that her car was struck by another vehicle in a hit-and-run accident en route, leaving her car damaged and Bremner herself disoriented due to a concussion. Records show that she placed two calls to 9-1-1 at 11:12 pm and 11:15 pm. In the recording of the call, Bremner can be heard stating that she was stuck and lost; the dispatcher responded by giving her the number for the American Automobile Association. An hour after that, King County sheriff Brendan Moen came across Bremner and her vehicle and after speaking to her came to believe that she was intoxicated. Bremner stated that she was parked at the time, while Moen stated that his attention had been drawn to her car by the sound of its being driven on a flat tire. Some reports state that Bremner did not communicate her earlier vehicular difficulties to Moen, while other state that she did so but was ignored. She was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence just after 1 am; she did not complete a breathalyzer test despite seven attempts. Moen stated that she was belligerent and that her failed efforts to complete the breathalyzer test were intentional, amounting to refusal to take the test. Bremner was released after a few hours in a holding cell. No DUI charges were filed against her at the time, only one count of driving with an expired registration.

In the aftermath of Bremner's arrest, several area media organizations made requests that video records of Bremner's driving and behavior from that evening be made public under open records laws, namely the Public Disclosure Act. Bremner objected, stating that the release of the records could subject her to public ridicule. She also stated that the release of the records would violate her right to privacy by making public symptoms of her medical condition. A neurologist who evaluated Bremner on August 8 stated that she still showed "numerous signs of a concussion", and referred her to Swedish Medical Center, where a brain scan showed post-concussion syndrome and signs of fluid in the brain. Bremner filed suits in King County Superior Court in her own name as well as a "Jane Doe" suit to block the release of the records. On August 12, judge Laura Inveen ordered that the records be released, but stayed her decision pending the completion of an appeal by Bremner's attorney. On August 18, Bremner was formally charged with DUI. She pled guilty to the DUI charge on September 1, released her arrest report to the media, and stated that she would withdraw her appeal blocking the release of other records relating to the case.

External links

• Official website