Maria Cristina Gutierrez (February 28, 1951 - January 30, 2004) was an American criminal defense lawyer who represented several high-profile defendants in the 1990s and the first Hispanic woman to advise the record in the previous case. United States Supreme Court. He was an early trial lawyer for Adnan Syed, a Baltimore regional teenager convicted of killing his ex-boyfriend, Hae Min Lee in 1999. The murder and confidence courts gained national attention in 2014 and 2015 after being the subject of the first season of online podcasts Serial .
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Gutierrez attended high school at Notre Dame Prep in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a bachelor's degree from Antioch College and a juris Doctor from Baltimore University Law School. He was appointed as a lawyer to the Office of Public Defenders in Baltimore and later joined the company of Murphy and Associates, led by former Baltimore Bridge District Court judge William H. Murphy, Jr.
Maps Cristina Gutierrez
Legal career
Gutierrez graduated from the Law Faculty of Baltimore University in 1980 and began his career with the Office of Public Defenders in Baltimore after a brief ministry with Judge William H. Murphy, Jr. After a few years he left the PD office and joined the firm of William H. Murphy, Jr. and Associates. According to most accounts, Gutierrez is a tenacious lawyer, representing many individuals with hopeless cases. In 1990 Jamal Craig, an employee of her mother's daycare facility in Howard County, was accused of child abuse. Gutierrez represents Craig and he is released from all charges. His mother, Sandra Craig, was also accused of child abuse. Gutierrez joins his probation team and finally sees his case, Maryland v. Craig , go to the United States Supreme Court.
Gutierrez represented a female Baltimore police officer accused of first-degree murder after shooting her husband six times. Gutierrez created defenses "an archetypal spouse syndrome" and his client was only sentenced for a second-rate lower murder charge.
Gutierrez also represents Jacqueline Bouknight, a Baltimore woman who has been detained for seven years for humiliation on a court order for not revealing her son's whereabouts for a social service official. Allegedly the boy had been murdered but no murder charges ever filed.
In 1993, Gutierrez became a partner in the company and the company name was changed to Murphy and Gutierrez. Murphy and Gutierrez split up in 1995 with Gutierrez finally opening a solo practice.
Adnan Syed's Representation
On February 9, 1999, Hae Min Lee's body (Hangul: Ã, ??? ), an 18-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland, was found at Leakin Park. Lee's former boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested on February 28, 1999 and accused of first-degree murder. His family retained Gutierrez to represent their son. Syed's first court ended with a cancellation of the trial, but after the second six-week trial, Syed was found guilty of Lee's murder on February 25, 2000 and sentenced to life imprisonment, despite pleading not guilty. Syed did not speak in front of the jury. Syed's new lawyer, C. Justin Brown has appealed the case and has stated that the basis of the appeal was a mistake made by Gutierrez during the trial. Brown said that Gutierrez failed to interview a witness, Asia McClain, who said he was with Syed at the time Lee was killed.
In February 2015, the Maryland High Court filed a decision allowing Syed to appeal his beliefs on the grounds of his lawyer Cristina Gutierrez has provided ineffective advice for failing to seek bargain pleadings during his trial. On November 6, 2015, "Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Martin Welch ordered that the post-Syed punishment process be reopened" for the sake of justice for all. ?? On June 30, 2016, Judge Welch granted Syed's request for a new trial, ruled that Gutierrez "provided ineffective assistance when he failed to cross-check state experts on the reliability of evidence of cell tower locations," cleared Syed's confidence.
Disbarment
On May 24, 2001, the Maryland Court of Appeal announced Gutierrez had been dismissed (with consent). Gutierrez agrees with dismissal, citing many health problems including multiple sclerosis.
Death
According to his son Roberto, Gutierrez began suffering the effects of multiple sclerosis in 1999, which is complicated by diabetes. He began to lose his vision and his memory. In 2003, he used a wheelchair and could not remember his son's name. He died on January 30, 2004 in Towson, Maryland after suffering a heart attack.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia