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

Work as prosecutor and with police

From 1983 to 1988, Bremner 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. Bremner also served as defense attorney for the Seattle Police Department in a lawsuit filed by a Boys & Girls Club volunteer tackled and arrested by a rookie police officer in 2006; the jury found in 2008 that the Seattle PD had made an unlawful arrest and awarded $268,000 in damages to the plaintiff. It was the first officer misconduct case in more than a decade that the Seattle PD had lost, and Bremner also stated it was the first such case she had not won in her two decades as a defense attorney.

Later major cases

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, whose attorney, Dan K. Webb of Winston & Strawn LLP, alleged Bremner had implied that Shacknai used his wealth and profile to improperly influence the probe into Zahau's death. He sent a cease and desist letter to Bremner warning her that in his opinion certain statements of hers constituted defamation, were "highly insensitive on a human level", and contributed to "the harsh and unkind glare of a national media frenzy." However, Jim Edwards of CBS BNET stated it was unlikely that Shacknai would actually sue, as that would simply bring more publicity to the case.

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 and other cable networks covering the trial of Scott Peterson for the murder of Laci Peterson. Similarly in 2005, she took an unpaid leave 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 2009, she appeared variously on CNN with Nancy Grace to discuss the Casey Anthony case.

In 2003, Bremner 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 case

On June 3, 2010, Bremner had dinner and wine with professional acquaintances, including judges Carolyn R. Dimmick and Rosselle Pekelis. Both stated that Bremner had no issues of balance, coordination, or speech when she left. After leaving, Bremner stated that her car was struck in a hit-and-run accident and she became disoriented due to a concussion. Records show she spoke to 9-1-1 twice. An hour later, a King County sheriff encountered her and suspected she was intoxicated; Bremner did not or was unable to make the sheriff aware of her earlier accident. He arrested her on suspicion of driving under the influence just after 1 am. She attempted but did not complete a breathalyzer test. The administering officer saw this as intentional refusal to take the test, placed her in a holding cell, and released her after a few hours. No DUI charges were filed against her at the time, only one count of driving with an expired registration. A neurologist who later evaluated Bremner stated 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.

Area media made requests that video records from that night be made public under the Public Disclosure Act, an open records law; Bremner objected and filed suit in King County Superior Court. Her appeal against an unfavorable ruling in that suit was still pending when on August 18 she was formally charged with DUI. She pled guilty to the DUI charge on September 1 and consented to the release of her arrest report and other records. She was sentenced to two days in jail and ordered to attend an alcohol abuse class.

External links

• Official website