MACHIAS, Maine — A “joke gone too far” has resulted in the formal reprimand of Machias attorney Jeffrey Davidson.
After reviewing a courthouse encounter on Sept. 27, 2011, between Davidson and Lt. Mary Zidalis of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar has cited Davidson for “professional misconduct.”
The incident that prompted Zidalis’ “offensive actions” complaint against Davidson was grounded in a comment he admits he made to her 45 minutes before she testified in a case in which Davidson was defending a Washington County jail inmate accused of assaulting a fellow inmate.
The complaint alleges that, before the start of the trial as Zidalis walked by Davidson, he asked her, “Have you ever been raped?” She responded that his question was a personal question. Davidson then commented, “Well, get ready because today will be your first time.”
Zidalis then walked away and reported the remark to a colleague and later to her superiors.
The Board of Overseers’ finding says that Zidalis and Davidson were not strangers to each other, noting they had had a “joking, bantering, competitive relationship” over several years.
“But [Davidson’s] remark had a very unsettling effect upon her minutes before her testimony,” the finding reads in part. “Davidson views this as a joke that went too far, but the panel believes that the word ‘rape’ in this setting was unsettling to her as a witness, as well as unprofessional and prejudicial to the administration of justice.”
That is just straight wrong!
Is he a fan of Daniel Tosh?
Gee, guys, you must not have daughters or wives or mothers or have a freaking CLUE what it’s like to be a woman in the world. I feel bad for the women in your lives if you think a rape joke is funny.
Rape jokes are not funny. Ask a rape victim.
You show your maturity level big time if you think this is anything but completely unprofessional. Please grow up.
It’s damgerous joke territory, that’s for sure. The lawyer above is no comedian, but to say that “rape jokes are not funny” is taking it a bit far. Cancer and the Holocaust can be funny, but you may also get pelted with rotten vegetables. It’s the definition of edgy, you may fall off.
Point taken, seamus. He fell off the edge on this one. It’s just so grossly unprofessional for the workplace, and it needed to be addressed.
I don’t think there are many ways a rape joke can be funny….so it ought to be left alone.
Again, if you don’t like it change the channel. Or grow some skin. Or boo.
Except this wasn’t a comedy club; it was a courtroom. Inappropriate. Period.
Hey nobody is saying rape is funny. Women are not the only victims. Just look at this case and you might begin to realize that most rapes are perpetrated on men. From this point of view you may begin to see where the rage is coming from.
Actually, why don’t you spend a minute looking up rape statistics, most rape is perpetrated on WOMEN by MEN. That is a fact.
50% of all rape claims are false and are made by WOMEN against MEN. Most of the men freed by the innocence project were convicted for rape lies and prosecutorial misconduct. If you want to check reputable studies and statistics, you will find that women are more violent, commit more domestic abuse and murder children, but it is the men that are arrested, prosecuted and send to jail. Domestic Violence Industry is FRAUD and their statistics are a pack of made up lies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmfCB_IVkOc
He must play Xbox.
you hear that sort of talk all the time in the game lobbies.
By 12 year olds.
Remind me never to hire this lawyer.
I sincerely hope you never have any legal problems, as apparently you will hire a lawyer based upon silly remarks rather than his actual ability. Best of luck to you!
Not to put too fine a point on it, but I don’t think lakesregion suggested that he’s going to hire a lawyer based upon silly remarks. Rather, he’s not going to hire a lawyer who acts so stupidly by making remarks like that to a trial witness. At least I wouldn’t. In my experience, there’s a relationship between professional ability and what the professional says. Able lawyers usually don’t say stupid things to trial witnesses.
Your marital status in my post was because of all your comments on the site. You obviously don’t have much empathy for anyone or much good taste, when it comes to terrible things like this lawyer said to the witness.
This guy would have to be the last qualified lawyer in Maine to get my business.
That was unprofessional & , joke or not- deserves a reprimand.
It’s called “being a professional” AT WORK. Secondly, it’s called BEING A GENTLEMAN.
I know those concepts are difficult for some.
Har har rape!
Why tier her up in legal tape…..HE is the one who opened his mouth and said those horrible words to HER!!!
Classy.
The Glas certainly have their pants in a wad over this. What will they when something of significance gets reported in the BDN?
Almost makes Lepage seem intelligent…almost.
Interesting… In Washington County they pursue a case of a lawyer using the word rape, but I know of a case in which a girl was raped, and the DA’s office decided not to prosecute as they decided to call it a “he says/she says” case… Unbelievable.
If I walked up and said this to Lepage’s wife or daughter – I would be heaved in jail.
I would just heave…
I would like to go ahead and SPECULATE that perhaps the comment was taken too seriously, and to further SPECULATE that perhaps in retrospect it all could’ve been handled differently? Like how about no one is perfect, and I’m sure in reflection anyone could stop and think “I’ve made mistakes too, and I’m so glad there wasn’t someone there to tell on me.”
Yawn. another show of outrage by members of the press and our Oh so politically correct society. Tasteless? … maybe .;. reason fo censure? hardly.
So having manners is equated with being politically correct?? Seriously?
So having manners is mandated by law now? There are going to be a bunch of BDN posters in jail if that comes to pass.
How is this in any way a show of outrage by the press? They’re reporting what happened. They’re doing their job. Why don’t you go find yours?
Your rudeness is EXACTLY what I expect from the unwashed opposition, but thank you for sharing.
Lawyers are subject to strict ethical guidelines and he should have been censured by the Board of Overseers. He overstepped an important guideline. It isn’t okay to intimidate a witness until he is doing it in front of the judge. Just sayin’.
The guy is classless. He is not well liked in his profession and that is saying something.
Off-hand and off-color comments are not meant for polite society or public airing, period. This lawyer should go work for Big Paulie. I bet they’d have a great time cracking each other up, since they’re the only two who “get the joke”.
Davidson’s behavior was rude, crude, and two forms of harassment: witness tampering, and sexual harassment. Lt. Mary Zidalis is to be commended for filing her complaint.
He must be a member of the Paul LePage fan club. Make offensive comments and then call them jokes. Blame the offended parties for being too sensitive.
Really Dragging LePage into this? And I dont think he has claimed any of his statements to be jokes, and quite frankly most people are too sensitive when he says ANYTHING. Good Gracious people can there be one ARTICLE on the BDN that someone doesn’t say Something about LePage? If you want to complain about him then do it to Him, he holds a meeting every Sat Am for people to tell him their issues so he can fix them so instead of saying things and not having anything done about them why dont you drive your butt to Augusta and do something about it!
“The Board of Overseers’ finding says that Zidalis and Davidson were not strangers to each other, noting they had had a “joking, bantering, competitive relationship” over several years.”Obviously this was a joke that went too far… and if they were friends, then why didn’t she just confront him? He most likely would have appologized if he had known he had offended her. All the lawyers and correction officers have a good repore(?) and if she was testifying for the prosecution, then one could say that when he cross examined her, he “raked” her… because they is the defense attorneys job… to defend their client. But what is done, is done. I’m sure he will choose his words more wisely now…
Hancock/Washington DA office has been using FALSE RAPE prosecutions against dozens of innocent men but when one defense lawyer makes a joke using the word “rape” then it’s misconduct because a woman got offended? So a woman’s feelings are worth more than freedom and civil rights of men?
http://fillerfund.com/marykellett.htm
I believe what happened was an attempt to intimidate a witness that would be on the stand. It could have been a ‘car wreck’ case. He could of said to the witness ‘have you ever been in a wreck, because you are going to feel like that when I get you on the witness stand.’
Either way it is construed as intimidation.
Jeff Davidson seems to have a habit of telegraphing his punches.
Goes both ways, as I stated above… Lots of guilty men walking around after charges were dropped, because the DA didn’t want to pursue the case.
I have never heard of this counselor however, it is fantastic to see the bar actually responding to a complaint instead of accepting any explanation given which they tend to do without much research to verify facts. Sort of like the good ole boy network and any explanation is excepted as fact. If these folks had any type of relationship, they surely should have known what would be acceptable comments or jokes made to each other. You don’t share edgy jokes with folks you do not know and if they will take them just as a joke or not. Some folks just are thin skinned and need their own space and if you apply humor to your daily routine than you need to avoid these folks and find laughter among the ones who appreciate your humor. I would think that most lawyers would understand this.
Things like this are exactly why lawyers, bankers, and Realtors all need their own “ethics” panels. How come carpenters, fishermen, and loggers do not need an “ethics” panel? Dirty hands, clean mind. And vice versa.
So now you judge all realtors,bankers,And lawyers as unethical? Ignorance is bliss huh? People who are so worried about being politically correct and suing for “damages” are why we have ethics panels. Loggers and fisherman arent held to the same standards because they dont deal with the public. Small mind = dumb comments
I beg to differ, have you been out to matinicus Isle lately? their “ethics” are the wrong end of a shotgun. Not many lawyers out there.
If jokes like this were “acceptable” in the past between these two, it sounds like maybe her “superiors” were the ones who were “offended” and probably told her to file a complaint. Was it poorly timed? Yes. But im sure even as stupid as this attorney sounds, he has probably said worse and heard worse from her mouth too!
What do you call 5,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.
The guy is the shining example of what pigs men are and for an attorney to say this……..What gator bate
what he said tells a lot about what kind of person he is and from that comment that tells me every thing I need to know about him, they can keep him down there. SEAMUS is a pig also………………….