Hello there. I feel I have a moral obligation to tell the story of how Oregon lawyer Chris Trotter screwed me over.
My name is Michael Strickland. If that name is familiar, allow me to refresh your memory. I was the news videographer who was attacked in the street while at work on July 7th, 2016. There were several individuals wearing masks over their faces, dressed in dark clothing, and carrying flagstaffs. I have personally witnessed people dressed like this, acting like this, and using flagstaffs as weapons to cause violence and commit crimes at protests. They encircled me from behind, and the largest one of the bunch began pushing and shoving me while shouting “YOU NEED TO GET THE F*** OUT OF HERE! GET THE F*** OUT OF HERE!”
The mob continued to come after me as I was attempted to escape this imminent threat. They began to converge on me again from multiple angles. At that point, with every reason to believe they posed a grave danger to me, I drew my lawfully carried Glock 27 and pointed it directly at several of the violent thugs.
This was finally enough to get them to back away as I continued to back away and create distance. With the threats neutralized and no longer direct threats, I then reholstered my handgun and continued to back away. Thankfully I was able to deter the violent thugs without firing a shot.
Sounds like a cut-and-dry case of self defense, right? I mean, if I had every right to be in a public area, doing my job, in concert with my 1st Amendment right to free press, then surely a gang of violent thugs doesn’t have the right to use force and threats to stop me from doing that, right? And if they don’t have the right to do that, then that constitutes unlawful force being used against me, right? And when unlawful force, or imminent unlawful force, is being used against someone, that person has the lawful right to defend themselves, right?
The police showed up a few blocks away, as I was trying leave the area to avoid an altercation, and they arrested me. I attempted to tell them what had happened, but they didn’t care about anything I had to say. They were there to protect the violent gang, and they threw me in jail, and I was eventually held on multiple felony charges.
All for not harming a fly and trying to get away to avoid an altercation that others had perpetrated.
Gather ’round and I will tell you the tale of how Chris Trotter managed to do nearly everything wrong while representing me, skipping out on meetings, not responding to my emails, allowing prosecutors to blatantly lie to judges, not calling key witnesses, making bad arguments, omitting key details, lying to me on multiple occasions, and essentially working against my interest.
And this is a case that Trotter told me he believed in. A case in which he told me not only was I not guilty, but that I am innocent. If he’s this weak on a case he believes in, how weak will he be on a case in which he’s unsure about guilt or innocence?