Tag: Marines

Jay R. Grodner updates

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Happy New Year!


Note: 19-Jan-08 Update on trial here.


I’m certain yours is going better than that of Chicago attorney Jay “I’m not going to make it easy on this kid.” Grodner.

As mentioned yesterday, Mr. Grodner is accused of keying a Marine’s car and causing $2,400 in damage. He then added insult to his vandalism by applying his sophisticated lawyerly expertise. This may have backfired. That story is recounted by Blackfive, where there is an update. It seems Mr. Grodner may be on his way to regretting his arrogance as a defendant. Maybe he should have taken probation when it was offered.

Attn: Black Five

I am writing to produce an update of the results of Sgt McNulty’s case against Jay R Grodner. I was present in support of Mike and thought you may be interested in an update for this story.

Sgt McNulty was called forward by the State’s Attorney in order to discuss the case. I am not sure what transpired behind the closed doors, however, I overheard the State’s Attorney expressing her intent to prosecute this guy to the fullest extent. …

RTR at the link.

Free Republic has another brief account of the court proceedings:
Marine Sgt. McNulty Has his Day in Court (Case Against Lawyer For Vandalizing Marine’s Car)

Meanwhile, Mr. Grodner is probably not reveling in his new status as a Google celebrity, nor enjoying his new Wikipedia entry. He has been honored by Michelle Malkin as a Jerk of the Year nominee.

Many other details of Grodner’s life have been unearthed based on public records. Probably, he would have been happier if his dating preferences (not linked for reasons of good taste) hadn’t been discovered by the simple expedient of Googling his email address. I am sure he would have preferred the involuntary dissolution of 2 businesses, and his censure for forgery remained off the radar. (Note: that last link is down, it was working yesterday as quoted here. Hmmm.)

Pride goeth before a fall.

Update: 1-Jan-08, 7:20PM

Thanks to a commenter yesterday, we have this bit of info, possibly regarding a client of Mr. Grodner’s:

The Cook County Register of Deeds has BARRINGTON AUTO SALES INC. as the Grantor and JAY R GRODNER & ASSOC as a Grantee in 2006. Document type is “REGISTERED AGENT.” I’m not sure what relationship this represents. Did someone buy a car, or is someone legal advisor to a used car dealer? In itself this is not a burning question, but we were wondering yesterday if Mr. Grodner’s clients were aware of his puerile behavior, and whether the clients’ patrons had been notified. At the time we had some concern these consumers might not hear of Mr. Grodner’s conduct. His burgeoning notoriety makes that a lesser concern today.

More Cook County public information related to Mr. Grodner is here.

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Jay Grodner, giving lawyers a bad name (Updated and Bumped)

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Sometimes you are lucky just because you live in a certain place. In this case it is people in the Chicago area. They can avoid using the services of (the link is down, probably due to traffic):

Jay R. Grodner
Law Offices of Jay R. Grodner
Principal Office-Deerfield
625 Deerfield Road –Suite 406
Deerfield, IL 60015
Phone: (847) 444-1500
Fax: (847) 444-0663

Downtown Chicago
30 N. LaSalle St. – Suite 1210
Chicago, IL 60602
Phone: (312) 236-1142
Fax: (312) 236-6036

I have 30 years experience in handling paternity cases in Illinois in Public & Private Practice starting as a prosecutor prior to the admissibility of parental blood testing.

You can find out why Mr. Grodner is despicable, here and here.

H/T Flopping Aces

Update: 8:29 AM

Mr. Grodner also appears to be “lead attorney in the Automobile Dealership Representation. Jay has over twenty-five years experience representing motor vehicle dealerships …” (This link also is not working presently.)

Perhaps these clients should be made keenly aware of Mr. Grodner’s proclivities. We just need to find out who they are. Since Mr. Grodner’s site is down, the only thing I find so far is a reference to The Cobalt Group, who have supplied an image Mr. Grodner uses on his site. They may have no other connection, of course.

Update: 12:06 PM

Mr. Grodner was censured by the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, an agency of the Illinois Supreme Court, in 1983 for forging voter signatures. Here is a comment by Justice Simon, who thought the punishment should have been more severe:

SIMON, Justice, concurring in part and dissenting in part:

The majority acknowledges that the conduct of the respondents was flagrant, and since it involved acts of forgery, their conduct constituted dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation. I concur in those observations. I dissent, however, because I do not believe the sanctions imposed were sufficient in view of the serious nature of the misconduct. Tampering by members of the bar with any aspect of our voting process deserves neither leniency nor indulgence.

The respondents’ conduct was planned and designed to mislead the officials in charge of voting procedures. They knowingly submitted fictitious names with the purpose of having them accepted by election officials as valid signatures of registered voters. The issue here is not, as the respondents would have us believe, whether the tax referendum in connection with which the fictitious names were submitted was important. Neither is it whether any one was hurt by their mischief, as the respondents contend should be asked. Rather the issue is whether the respondents intended to and did subvert the voting process, and whether they intended to and did mislead election officials into believing that signatures the respondents knew were fictitious were genuine.

…With respect to Mr. Grodner, I disagree with the majority that the fact that he had been admitted to practice for only three months when the roundtabling took place should serve as a mitigating factor. It must be apparent to all who examine this situation that one does not require a legal education or admission to the bar to know that what the respondents were doing was improper. The majority points out also in mitigation that Grodner was complying with the request of his superiors, but I am under the impression that the defense that “I was only following orders” was discredited both at the Nuremberg and the Watergate trials. I do not think it is asking too much of licensed attorneys to exhibit the good judgment to say “No” when they are importuned to engage in dishonest pursuits. Instead, Grodner and his co-respondents appeared to treat the activity in which they engaged as a joke. Grodner, too, occupied public office, and even if only for a short time, it was long enough to know that as a prosecutor he was expected to uphold the law, not violate it. The sanction of censure recommended for him by the Administrator is inappropriate, for it overlooks the obligation he undertook when he assumed the prosecutor’s office. I believe the Review Board’s recommendation that he be suspended for six months was a proper disposition.

It is reasonable to conclude that Mr. Grodner did not benefit from his censure. He still believes he is above the law.

H/T (from his comment at BLACKFIVE) michaelinmi at AmeriCAN-DO Attitude

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A picture is worth… A million words isn’t even a good start

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“I want all of you to be safe. And please don’t feel bad for us. We are warriors. And as warriors have done before us, we joined this organization and are following orders because we believe that what we are doing is right. Many of us have volunteered to do this a second time due to our deep desire to finish the job we started. We fight and sometimes die so that our families don’t have to. Stand beside us. Because we would do it for you. Becasue [sic] it is our unity that has enabled us to prosper as a nation.” – Staff Sergeant Marcus Golczynski, written a week before he was killed in action in Iraq.


DNJ photo by Aaron Thompson

LEWISBURG — A family, community and brothers in arms came together Wednesday to grieve for U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Marcus Andrew “Marc” Golczynski, 30, who was killed in Iraq last week.

Hundreds attended the Marine’s funeral at the Church Street Church of Christ, sharing tears, laughter, song and prayer.

As 8-year-old Christian Golczynski accepted the flag from his father’s casket, tears flowed freely from the mourners, and even Marine Lt. Col. Ric Thompson, who presented the flag to the boy, showed a trace of emotion.

“My Marc made the sacrifice for my freedom,” said Heather Southward Golczynski, widow of the fallen Marine. “That is a debt I won’t ever be able to repay.”

Marc Golczynski, who had been a Marine reservist for 12 years, was shot by enemy fire March 27 while on patrol in the Al Anbar province, where he was stationed on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve’s Third Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Fourth Marine Division, Nashville.

Read the whole thing. Family, friends remember fallen Marine

Additionally, James Drescher has a few thoughts in a letter to the Tennessean:

Dear Tennessean:

The Tennessean’s April 5 photograph of young Christian Golczynski accepting the American flag from Marine Lt. Col. Ric Thompson is one of the most moving and emotion provoking images I have ever seen.

My wife and I attended funeral services for Christian’s father, Staff Sergeant Marcus Golczynski, on April 4, along with our six year-old son, dozens of Marines, and several hundred others who came to pay tribute to this fallen hero.

As one would expect, many of your readers were touched by this incredible picture. Staff Sergeant Golczynski had previously served one full tour in Iraq. Shortly before his death on March 27 he wrote to his family that he had volunteered to do this a second time due to our deep desire to finish the job we started. In his letter he said, “We fight and sometimes die so that our families don’t have to.” Tragically, Staff Sergeant Golczynski had only two weeks remaining on his second tour. We look at the photograph of Christian every day. It is displayed prominently in our home.

Our hearts ache for Christian and for all those who have lost loved ones in this controversial conflict.

Our nation is at a historical crossroads. Do we call an end to the struggle in Iraq or press on? Staff Sergeant Golczynski eloquently told his son how he felt about not giving up. Perhaps there is a lesson for all of us in this man’s life and the choices he made. He was undeniably a man of tremendous courage and conviction. America must now choose whether to complete the job.

When looking at the face of Christian Golczynski I am reminded that doing what is right is not always easy and doing what is easy is not always right. Christian’s dad knew that too.

James Drescher

Franklin, TN

More here and here.

It is possible to view this picture and take from it the idea that “supporting the troops” means getting them out of harm’s way – immediately and unconditionally. If we had done so last month, Christian Golczynski would not be without a father, and Heather Golczynski would not be a widow.

What does not seem possible is demanding such a withdrawal before we can “finish the job we started.” This soldier has spoken: “Stand beside us. Because we would do it for you.” Yes, that would be supporting the troops; not to mention Christian and Heather.

H/T SAH

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Flags of our Fathers

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John Bradley, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and Mike Strank are the Navy corpsman and Marines who, on 23-February-1945, raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi. It’s a famous picture.

Still, Suribachi’s island wasn’t declared secure until 26-March, and it was 7-April before American fighter planes took off from the refurbished runway so many had died to secure.

Describing the Americans who fought this battle, Admiral Nimitz uttered the words that appear on the Arlington Cemetery monument to that flag raising: “Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue”.

Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal said that “the raising of that flag on Suribachi means there will be a Marine Corps for the next 500 years.”

Thank you Marines. Semper Fi. 440 years to go; though I expect you’ve extended that a bit in the interim.

Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the death-struggle for Iwo Jima, in which over 2,000 Marines died in the first 18 hours of fighting.

In the next 36 days Marines had a casualty every 2 minutes. 6,821 Americans and over 20,000 Japanese died. Of 353 Medals of Honor awarded during WWII, 27 were given for heroism on Iwo Jima; 13 posthumously.

And this was not the end of the Pacific war. In fact, it was just the first battle on Japanese soil.

My appreciation of this battle, and my gratitude to those who fought it, grew immensely when I read a book given to me by a former Marine. That book is Flags of our Fathers, by James Bradley.

Bradley discovered that his father, a Navy corpsman who survived the battle of Iwo Jima, had not only been awarded a Navy Cross for his efforts there, but was one of the men in the famous picture of the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi. He discovered this only after his father had died, as he sorted through his father’s papers.

Danielle Girdano is another person belatedly aware of her father’s contribution on Iwo Jima.

18 year old private first class Daniel Girdano, 4th Marine Division, 24th Regiment, 1st Battalion A Company, first saw Iwo Jima‘s beaches on 19-February-1945. His daughter learned what really happened there almost by accident. She bought a vial of Iwo Jima ash for her father as a Christmas present in 2003, and he could not speak of his experiences still. “He saw this vial of ash, and this man who I’ve known my entire life as the Rock of Gibraltar, broke down,” she said. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/westmoreland/s_303180.html

What she learned from her small gift resulted in the Legend of Heroes Memorial. A monument in glass, metal and wood; it has the faces of 10 Iwo Jima vets engraved on it. Her father is one of them. It is beginning a 49 state tour this weekend.

It is inscribed, “Boys became men, men became heroes, heroes became legends.”

I am cowed by the modesty, even self-effacement, of men like Bradley’s and Girdano’s fathers; though it is typical of those WWII vets who saw soul-wrenching combat. Part of it is certainly the modesty becoming of a different era, but I think most of it arises from the pain their experiences brought. (Note to John Kerry – your eagerness, sustained for 30 years, to capitalize on your experiences of “atrocities” in Viet Nam is one of the reasons you were not credible.)

I recommend Flags of our Fathers, but for a brief tour you should read Arthur Herman’s piece at: http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006317

Herman also invokes contemporary issues via a perspective on the doubt and debate surrounding WWII strategies that most of us now think of as uncontroversial.

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