Stephen Gutierrez is a 28-year-old graduate of Florida
International University’s law school. He is, in fact, now a practicing lawyer.
Recently, he represented 48-year-old Claudy Charles, who was accused of
intentionally setting fire to his own car. Gutierrez argued that his client did
not set fire to his vehicle, but that the car somehow spontaneously combusted.
As the young lawyer began his closing arguments in front of a jury, he was seen
fiddling in his pocket. Shortly thereafter, smoke began billowing out of said
pocket, and his pants burst into flames, prompting him to rush out of the
courtroom and stunning onlookers, according to witnesses cited by the Miami
Herald.
After the
jurors were ushered out, the suddenly inflammatory Miami attorney returned sans
conflagration, unharmed save for a badly singed pocket. Gutierrez blamed a
faulty battery in an e-cigarette, and insisted it wasn’t a staged defense. “It
was surreal,” an observer told the Herald. Another stated: “A lot of people
could have been hurt.”
The
paper says repeated calls to Gutierrez’s cell-phone went unanswered, and that
Miami-Dade police and prosecutors are investigating the episode. Officers
seized several frayed e-cigarette batteries as evidence.
As for
‘Claudy’ Charles? Jurors convicted him of second-degree arson despite the
allegedly unplanned pyrotechnics. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman
could yet decide to hold Gutierrez in contempt of court.
Well,
you know what they say: “Lawyer, lawyer, pants on fire.”
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