Barry Cohen (attorney)

Infobox_Person
name = Barry Cohen

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imagesize = 150px
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birth_date =
birth_place =
education =
alma_mater = Florida State University
Mercer University
occupation = Attorney
residence =
spouse =
children =
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nationality = American

Barry Cohen is a criminal and personal injury attorney in Florida's Tampa Bay Area, and one of the best known attorneys in Florida. He is characterized as a fighter for his aggressive legal tactics.cite web
year=1999
month=September 10
url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/91099/news_pf/TampaBay/People_involved_.shtml
title=People involved
publisher=The St Petersburg Times
accessdate=2007-11-01] [cite web
year=1991
month=
url=http://www.andelman.com/ARTICLES/barrycohen.html
title=Profile: Attorney Barry Cohen
publisher=Tampa Bay Life
page=p.11
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

Legal methods

Cohen has a media savvy, especially useful when his clients have a high public profile and are uncomfortable with the extra publicity drawn to their case. While many attorneys ignore the media's coverage, Cohen typically goes on a sophisticated "media offensive". Cohen has been quoted as saying that "defenders have to try to balance an inherent media advantage enjoyed by prosecutors."

His history of winning cases and the large legal fees he is now able to command have put Cohen in the position of being able to choose the cases he wants to handle, including accepting clients that cannot afford his fees such as school teacher, Jennifer Porter.cite web
year=
month=
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=B3Px7P-eDB0C&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=william+latorre&source=web&ots=DCV7buMq-R&sig=miTWn_7ZVuDZpuL5HxaCESgIJTA
title=Courting the Media: Public Relations for the Accused and the Accuser
publisher=Greenwood Press
accessdate=2007-11-01] As have many excellent defense lawyers, Cohen began taking personal injury cases. "The same investigative, negotiating and trial skills that made him an outstanding defense lawyer also made him an excellent personal injury lawyer."

ample cases

William A. LaTorre, a Clearwater, Florida, chiropractor at the wheel of his 35-foot (11 m) cigarette boat on Memorial Day weekend in 1989, collided with a 17-foot (5 m) boat full of teenagers. Four teenagers were killed and several more injured. LaTorre was charged with four counts of vessel homicide. Cohen painted a picture in the media as an unavoidable tragic event for everyone concerned. He portrayed LaTorre's arrest as politically motivated, and managed press conferences with LaTorre's tearful wife. LaTorre was eventually acquitted of all four deaths.

Cohen spent considerable effort, ultimately successful, to remove United States Attorney Robert Merkle from office, starting in 1987. [cite web
year=1987
month=January 20
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4DC1F3BF933A15752C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
title= Stormy Prosecutor Roils Political Waters in Florida
publisher=New York Times
accessdate=2007-11-13] Merkle was removed from office in 1989.

In 1992, former Chief Judge Dennis Alverez of Hillsborough County hired Cohen to represent him in an FBI inquiry into his handling of a legal dispute over the disposition of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse's multi-million dollar estate. [cite web
year=2002
month=May 8
url=http://www.sptimes.com/2002/05/18/TampaBay/Ex_judge_hires_lawyer.shtml
title= Ex-judge hires lawyer with a high profile
publisher=St Petersburg Times
accessdate=2007-11-13]

In 1994, Cohen represented Sheriff Everett Rice and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office when it was threatened with a lawsuit by former U.S. Attorney Robert Merkle for damages stemming from a false arrest charge after Merkle was acquitted of battery in a traffic confrontation. The Pinellas County Commission voted to hire Cohen as a special counsel at Rice’s request. [cite web
year=1989
month=November
url=http://www.andelman.com/ARTICLES/bobmerkle-fbtb.html
title=Merkle for the Defense
publisher=Florida Business/Tampa Bay
accessdate=2007-11-12]

In 2005, Barry Cohen represented Pinellas County, Florida Judge George Greer when Greer was threatened with impeachment for his decisions in the Terri Schiavo case. [cite web
year=2005
month=March 25
url=http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/11circuitorder033005.pdf
title=D. C. Docket No. CV-05-00530
publisher=abstractappeal.com
accessdate=2007-11-12] Jennifer Porter hired Barry Cohen before she announced she was the driver of the Toyota Echo involved in a hit and run accident that killed two children and put two in the hospital in March 2004. When she drove away after the collision with the four siblings, ages 2 to 13, she hid for two days and acquired Cohen as her attorney before she stepped forward in a carefully managed press conference along with press releases. Initially she was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide (carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison) and leaving the scene of an accident. She eventually pleaded guilty to a felony, but did not receive a prison sentence. Her sentence was reduced to two years house arrest through a judge's ruling engineered by Cohen. [cite web
year=2005
month=November 5
url=http://www.sptimes.com/2004/webspecials04/hitandrun/index.shtml
title=The Jennifer Porter Case
publisher=Tampa Tribune
accessdate=2007-11-09 ] After she had completed all but six months of her sentence, Porter requested that her teaching certificate be restored. Cohen said her excellent character references plus the expert testimony provided through Cohen's efforts, explaining how she suffered psychological trauma, testimony that convinced the judge to give her house arrest, should also persuade the state panel to let Porter maintain her teaching certification. [cite web
year=2007
month=April 19
url=http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22931
title=Child Killer Wants teaching Certificate Restored
publisher=
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

In September 2007, Barry Cohen was hired briefly to represent Nick Bollea, son of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. Bollea, age 17, was driving a yellow Toyota Supra at high speed when he lost control, according to police. His passenger was severely injured. [cite web
year=2007
month=August 28
url=http://www.boxxet.com/Hulk_Hogan/Barry_Cohen_out_as_Nick_Bollea_s_attorney.16r5gd.d
title=Barry Cohen out as Bollea's attorney
publisher=
accessdate=2007-11-09 ] "A lawyer can drop a client, just as a client can drop an attorney", Cohen is reported to have said, making a general statement when announcing his withdrawal from the case. [cite web
year=2007
month=September 19
url=http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB47R58R6F.html
title=2nd Lawyer Now Off Hogan Case
publisher=Tampa Tribune Online
accessdate=2007-11-01]

Aisenberg case

In 1997 Steven and Marlene Aisenberg hired Barry Cohen two days after their five-month-old baby, Sabrina, disappeared from her crib in the Aisenberg home. Baby Sabrina still has not been found and the reason for her disappearance remains a mystery. From the beginning the parents were the only suspects the prosecution investigators pursued. [cite web
year=2001
month=
url=http://www.glennbeck.com/al/Aisenberg.shtml
title=The Problem with the Aisenberg's
work=Glenn Bleck official site
publisher=Premiere Radio Networks
accessdate=2007-11-09 "(article no longer available)"]

Cohen, as the Aisenberg's attorney, appeared with the Aisenbergs as a guest on Larry King Live in 2001 along with several other guests to discuss the still unsolved case. The Aisenberg case has continued to receiving national attention in 2007, ten years after the child has been missing.

Cohen said the police have a right to investigate the parents of a missing child, but it was law enforcement's continued and relentless focus solely on the parents to the exclusion of other possibilities and leads that was problematic and abusive in this case. For example, prosecution investigators, having received an illegally obtained warrant, recorded over 255 private conversations in the Aisenberg home. The tapes were inaudible for the most part and none provided any evidence to prosecute the Aisenbergs. The tapes were transcribed into transcripts for the judge and for presentation to a grand jury. [cite web
year=2001
month=March 7
url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0103/07/lkl.00.html
title=Larry King Live - What Happened to Sabrina Aisenberg?
publisher=CNN
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

Hyde Amendment

Eventually in 2007, the charges against the Aisenbergs were dropped for lack of evidence. In "U.S. v. Aisenberg", Cohen sued the federal government for malicious prosecution on behalf of the Aisenbergs for reimbursement of legal fees under the Hyde Amendment, a federal statute enacted in 1997 to pay the legal fees of defendants who were victims of prosecutorial abuse. On February 1, 2003, the Aisenberg's were awarded $2.9 million to pay the legal fees for the then five-year-old case, the largest award in the ten years since the Hyde Amendment was enacted. In fact, very rarely is suing for reimbursement of legal fees under the Hyde Amendment successful. As of 2007, the award remains the largest to date. Although Cohen did not receive the $7 million requested in the suit, the amount awarded was far more than the $250,000 the prosecution was originally willing to pay. [cite web
year=2003
month=February 1
url=http://www.sptimes.com/2003/02/01/TampaBay/Aisenberg_bill_for_fe.shtml
title= Aisenberg bill for feds: $2.9-million
publisher=Saint Petersburg Times
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

In a 98-page document, Judge Merryday of the Middle District of Florida reviewed the case and explained why he ordered the federal government to pay the record-setting $2.9 million in legal fees and expenses under the Hyde Amendment. The judge called the prosecution's case “vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith.” The judge's lengthy decision is highly critical of the prosecutor's tactics. Further, the judge ordered the government to release to the public the grand jury transcripts as “the public is entitled to know” about the “misdirected and overzealous prosecutorial exertions” in this case. [cite web
year=2003
month=May 5
url=http://www.fedcrimlaw.com/visitors/punchltd/2003/05-05-03.html#Aisenberg
title=Punch & Jurists - The Cutting Edge of Federal Criminal Law
publisher=fedcrimlaw.com
accessdate=2007-11-10 ]

The controversy surrounding the Aisenberg case has been covered on numerous media outlets, including the CBS program "48 Hours" [cite web
year=2005
month=January 13
url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/13/48hours/main666740.shtml
title=Where's Baby Sabrina?
publisher=CBS News
accessdate=2005-01-13 ] as well as the "Oprah Winfrey Show," "Dateline NBC," "Good Morning America," and the "Today Show." [cite web
year=1999
month=September
url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/91099/TampaBay/Events_in_the_disappe.shtml
title=Events in the disappearance of Sabrina Aisenberg
publisher=St. Petersburg Times
accessdate=1999-09-10 ]

Other noteworthy clients

*Admitted mobster Henry Hill. Hill was portrayed by actor Ray Liotta in the Martin Scorsese film "Good Fellas" and was charged with the beating of a Tampa business owner over purported gambling debts. [cite web
year=1991
month=
url=http://www.andelman.com/ARTICLES/barrycohen.html
title=Profile: Attorney Barry Cohen
publisher=Tampa Bay Life
page=p.11
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

*Baseball star Gary Sheffield, who was charged by the police with fighting and resisting arrest. [cite web
year=1991
month=
url=http://www.andelman.com/ARTICLES/barrycohen.html
title=Profile: Attorney Barry Cohen
publisher=Tampa Bay Life
page=p.11
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

*Former Hillsborough County Chief Justice Arden Mays Merckle, who was accused of violating the civil rights of former Miami Dolphins running back Jack Harper. [cite web
year=1991
month=
url=http://www.andelman.com/ARTICLES/barrycohen.html
title=Profile: Attorney Barry Cohen
publisher=Tampa Bay Life
page=p.11
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

*Hillsborough County State Attorney E.J. Salcines, who was investigated by then-U.S. Attorney Bob Merkle for alleged public corruption. [cite web
year=1991
month=
url=http://www.andelman.com/ARTICLES/barrycohen.html
title=Profile: Attorney Barry Cohen
publisher=Tampa Bay Life
page=p.11
accessdate=2007-11-09 ]

Community activism

Barry Cohen was so deeply moved by the Denzel Washington-directed film "The Great Debaters" in 2008 that he launched an initiative in Tampa Bay to bring Hillsborough County its first-ever Urban Debate League for at-risk schoolchildren. He's also lobbying to air the movie in every public school across the United States. On May 15, 2008 Cohen underwrote a special screening of "The Great Debaters" for 250 underpriviliged Tampa children, along with special guests Doug Williams (the first African-American quarterback to win the Super Bowl) and actress Jurnee Smollett, who won the 2008 NAACP Image Award for her performance as the female lead in the film. [cite web
year=2008
month=May 15
url=http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=80509
title="The Great Debaters"
publisher=WTSP-TV (CBS affiliate)
accessdate=2008-05-15 ]

Bar admissions

*Florida Bar, 1966
*Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - 1973
*Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1973
*U.S. Supreme Court, 1973
*District of Columbia, 1981
*Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, 1981

Education

* B.A. degree from Florida State University in 1962. [http://www.lawyers.com/Florida/Tampa/Cohen,-Jayson-and-Foster,-P.A.-842747-f.html]
* LL.B. from Mercer University in 1966.

References

External links

* [http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=80509 "The Great Debaters"] ; 250 Children Attend Barry Cohen's Free Movie Screening
* [http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/article492012.ece Tampa lawyer argues for launching urban debate league]
* [http://www.sptimes.com/2004/webspecials04/hitandrun/index.shtml Hit and Run—links to Jennifer Porter articles]
* [http://www.andelman.com/ARTICLES/bobmerkle-fbtb.html Merkle for the Defense]
* [http://www.tampalawfirm.com The Law Firm of Cohen, Jayson & Foster, P.A.]