By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on December 9, 2023; Updated June 6, 2024
An Editorial Opinion
Hunter Biden started his criminal trial on Monday in a Delaware federal courtroom. He is represented in this criminal case by Washington, D.C.-based attorney Abbe Lowell, a partner in Winston & Strawn, LLP.
I personally worked with Abbe Lowell in the case of U.S. v. Richard Scrushy, an 85-count healthcare fraud case brought by federal prosecutors in Birmingham, Alabama against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy from 2003 to 2005. At the time, Lowell was a partner in the Washington/New York law firm of Chadbourne & Parke.
Scrushy hired Abbe Lowell early in the case on the strength of his national reputation. I was the lead attorney on Scrushy's criminal defense team -- a choice that did not sit well with Lowell.
By 2003, I had won 152 straight courtroom victories in state and federal civil and criminal cases. I did not know of any criminal cases Abbe Lowell had tried that resulted in “Not Guilty” jury verdicts for his clients.
In 2004, I allowed Abbe Lowell to take the lead in one of the many pretrial court hearings in Scrushy's case. Lowell was arrogant and awful. Lowell’s arrogance at the courthouse turned off courthouse security officers, courtroom personnel, the judge’s law clerk, and the U.S. Magistrate who was conducting the hearing.
What is worse, Lowell wanted to pursue a guilty plea deal even though Scrushy was innocent of all of the charges against him. Scrushy always maintained his innocence, in private conversations and public news conferences. Furthermore, Scrushy never lied to his team of lawyers about any aspect of the case, which made defending him relatively easy.
After the pretrial hearing, I consulted with Scrushy and we fired Abbe Lowell. He was stunned by his firing, especially since the decision to terminate Abbe Lowell was made by a black attorney whom Lowell thought was inferior to him in every way.
In my view, Abbe Lowell did not possess the knowledge, skills, and trial abilities necessary to win a high-profile, complex criminal case in a situation where losing was not an acceptable option. I ran Scrushy's criminal defense team like a Navy Seals rescue mission. I quickly discovered that Lowell was not capable of performing at the level expected of a Navy Seal. The other defense team members I had assembled could, and they did.
I later learned that Abbe Lowell’s national reputation and legal persona had been carefully crafted and widely promoted by Washington public relations firms. It was a mirage.
On June 28, 2005, my defense team won Richard Scrushy‘s criminal case by defeating prosecutors on all 85 felony counts, via extensive pretrial motions and our full-court press on government witnesses during a trial that lasted six months.
No white-collar criminal defendant before or since Richard Scrushy's case has defeated federal prosecutors on 85 felony charges in a single-defendant case.
The Washington Post called the "Not Guilty" verdicts in Scrushy's case a "miracle," while the New York Times referred to them as a "stunner." Fortune Magazine called me,"The Man Who Saved Richard Scrushy."
My record-setting victory in Richard Scrushy's case is featured in a May 2020 Netflix documentary titled, “Trial by Media,” Episode 4, “King Richard.” Abbe Lowell's hiring and firing is discussed in the documentary.
As expected, Abbe Lowell never congratulated my defense team or me on our landmark courtroom victory in Richard Scrushy's case. Lowell is a little man with a big ego.
U.S. v. Hunter Biden
Abby Lowell must win Hunter Biden's Delaware case. If he loses, Hunter Biden will face a mandatory minmum 5-year prison sentence for the gun possession charge, alone.
Hunter Biden is paying Winston & Strawn a fortune in legal fees for Abbe Lowell’s legal services. Lowell is actually gifted at milking his high-profile clients for legal fees.
I believe Hunter Biden will lose this criminal case. Absent a presidential pardon from Joe Biden, Hunter Biden will go to prison because the criminal defense skills needed to win this case are not present. Today, Joe Biden said he would not pardon Hunter Biden, if he is convicted.
Finally, President Joe Biden should pardon Hunter Biden while he still has the mental capacity to do so. Hunter Biden, who is a recovering crackhead and powder cocaine addict, will not survive as an inmate in the federal prison system. Illegal and illicit drugs of all kind are plentiful inside the federal prison system. An emotionally fragile and struggling drug addict like Hunter Biden will likely gain access to these drugs again and overdose on them in a prison environment.
I told you Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's high-profile criminal defense attorney, would lose this case. Lowell's only expertise is his ability to bilk his criminal clients out of large sums of money.
For the record, the defense team I assembled to win the 85-felony count case in USA v. Richard Scrushy could have won Hunter Biden's case on a level playing field 10 times out of ten trials with our eyes closed.
Have you noticed that the attorneys who commentate about big cases on TV and social media platforms have never tried any high-profile cases? They remind me of sportscasters who have never played sports.
Always ask a lawyer what his/her win-loss record is in courtroom trials. If he/she can't answer this simple question, run from him/her. If he/she can answer the question but he/she has more courtroom losses than wins, run from him/her.
During my 46-year legal career, my record was 217 litigation victories against 8 losses. My longest winning streak was 155 straight courtroom victories. Tampa attorney David Shankman snapped this wining streak in October 2017.
Abbe Lowell, who does not have a win-loss record worth mentioning, looked down on me because I am black. We fired Abbe Lowell. I won Richard Scrushy's 85-felony count criminal case. Now, we will see if Abbe Lowell can win Hunter Biden's simple gun possession and fa…