|
 UPDATES
ErikCooper.com was originally published on February 1, 2006. We update our website often.
Please visit us again, and bookmark our webpage by clicking here: Bookmark
Most content available on this webpage requires Adobe Acrobat software for viewing.
To obtain your FREE copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.
 GEORGIA BAR AWARDS ERIK $6,000.00 AGAINST FRAUDULENT ATTORNEY CHRISTOPHER A. FRAZIER
April 29, 2009
In January 2003, after a contemptuous legal battle to save four brothers from the perils of Georgia's foster care system, foster parent Erik A. Cooper was accused of child molestation.
Erik hired criminal defense attorney Terry Lloyd to defend him against the criminal allegations. As the trial neared, Erik learned Mr. Lloyd was unprepared for trial and unable to defend his case. Erik sought to add another criminal defense attorney to his legal team. After a careful search, Erik found attorney at law Christopher A. Frazier (Savannah, Georgia).
Mr. Frazier presented himself as an expert in the defense of false allegations of child sexual abuse. He claimed great knowledge in defending false allegation cases, and introduced Erik to purported expert Terence "Terry" W. Campbell, Ph.D. (www.campsych.com) (Sterling Heights, Michigan). During Erik's trial, Dr. Campbell extorted Erik for additional money and threatened not to testify or, despite the evidence and the truth, to testify in Erik's best interests, unless Erik paid him additional money. Erik paid Dr. Campbell his additional "fees" during the trial. Following his acquittal, Erik stopped payment on the check. Dr. Campbell's extortion efforts ultimately failed. Erik later sued Dr. Campbell for his unprofessional conduct and won a judgment against Dr. Campbell. ERIK DOES NOT ENDORSE FORENSIC EXPERT TERENCE W. "TERRY" CAMPBELL.
On September 1, 2004, Erik hired Christopher A. Frazier to serve as co-counsel in his criminal defense. Mr. Frazier's wife and paralegal, Monique Frazier, would also assist in preparing Erik's case for trial. Mr. Frazier did not provide Erik a contract for legal services (Warning #1). Instead, Mr. Frazier suggested that if Erik required a contract between them, that Erik prepare the contract himself. Though Erik has no formal legal education or experience, he wrote a legal agreement and entered into the contract with Mr. Frazier for Erik's legal defense.
Upon executing the contract, Mr. Frazier instructed Erik to make a deposit to his SunTrust bank account (Warning #2). Though Erik initially refused, insisting to send Mr. Frazier a certified check or bank check for the first installment of Mr. Frazier's fee, Mr. Frazier refused Erik's offer of a check and insisted that he make the deposit into Mr. Frazier's SunTrust account or he would not join Erik's legal defense team. Reluctantly, Erik visited his local SunTrust bank and deposited $6,000.00 in cash to Mr. Frazier's personal bank account (Warning #3).
Immediately after paying Mr. Frazier to join his legal defense team, Mr. Frazier postponed a legal hearing for a feigned excuse of medical illness. Mr. Frazier later postponed other court hearings for additional excuses, including other feigned illnesses. When questioned by the court concerning his sudden unavailability for a hearing, Mr. Frazier tendered a medical note from his physician/client, Owen O'Shaughnessy, M.D. (Tybee Island Medical Center, Georgia). Mr. Frazier did not disclose his conflict of interest, that is, that he also represented his purported physician in a legal action.
Had Erik chosen to terminate Mr. Frazier as his attorney, Erik would have forfeited all $6,000.00 he paid Mr. Frazier for work he did not perform.
One week before Erik's criminal trial was scheduled to begin, Mr. Frazier filed his Motion to Withdraw as Erik's attorney claiming, among other complaints, that he had a conflict of interest. Erik filed a pleading with the court objecting to Mr. Frazier's withdrawal.
One would think that an attorney who had stolen a client's money, wasn't performing the work he agreed to perform, and was lying to a Court, would not be an attorney anyone would want sitting next to him at the defense table. However, Mr. Frazier was hired to present the expert witness testimony, his purported expertise, at trial. Without Mr. Frazier's presence at trial, Mr. Lloyd was unprepared to present Erik's expert witnesses in support of his defense.
The Court scheduled a hearing to address Mr. Frazier's Motion to Withdraw and Erik's objection. As expected, Mr. Frazier did not appear for the hearing. Instead, he sent the court another phony medical excuse from his physician/client, Dr. O'Shaughnessy. After hearing from Mr. Lloyd and Erik about Mr. Frazier's misconduct, the Court ruled in Erik's favor and ordered Mr. Frazier to appear at Erik's trial the following week. Mr. Frazier's Motion to Withdraw was denied.
After learning of the Court's decision ordering Mr. Frazier to appear at trial, Mr. Frazier elected to post libelous and defamatory comments about Erik, Judge William M. Ray, II, and the judicial system in a legal discussion web group entitled, "Friends of Justice Discussion".
Even worse, the night before Erik's criminal trial was scheduled to begin, Mr. Frazier contacted Mr. Lloyd and the Court by email, informing both that he would be unable to appear for trial on time the following day because his vehicle became disabled while en route from his home in Savannah, Georgia, to the trial in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Only hours after sending his false email to the Court and Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Frazier's wife/paralegal, Monique, emailed Mr. Lloyd to advise that Mr. Frazier had attempted to kill himself.
According to the Chatham County Police Department's report (attached below), as reported by Monique Frazier, Mr. Frazier slit his arms from elbow to wrist in attempt to commit suicide "because she got her hair cut." Then, to everyone's surprise, Mr. Frazier fled his wife/paralegal and home by driving away in his vehicle (yes, the same vehicle that was reported to the Court earlier as "disabled" somewhere in the middle of the state). According to the police report, Officer Garrett determined, "There was no indication inside of their residence that Mr. Frazier cut his arms in the area where Mrs. Frazier indicated."
Having heard enough, Judge Ray held Mr. Frazier in contempt of court. This would not matter, however, because after filing his contempt charge against Mr. Frazier, Judge Ray recused himself from hearing the contempt charge matter since he was the accusing party. The contempt charge was reassigned to Judge Debra K. Turner who, almost immediately upon receipt and despite Erik's request for a hearing to be heard in the matter, dismissed the contempt charge against Mr. Frazier, allowing Frazier to continue his acts of fraud upon other clients and courts while being licensed by the State Bar of Georgia as an attorney at law.
Despite the absence of Erik's co-counsel for trial, Judge Ray refused to allow a continuance of the trial until suitable counsel could be retained. Instead, Judge Ray elected to go forward with Erik's trial, leaving Erik with a handicapped legal defense. In the eleventh hour, almost literally, Erik retained attorney Douglas N. Peters to join his legal defense team. Mr. Peters was astounded by how much work had not been completed by either Mr. Lloyd or Mr. Frazier prior to trial. Mr. Peters was an invaluable asset to Erik's legal defense team. Due to Mr. Frazier's absence, the unpreparedness of Mr. Lloyd, and the introduction of Mr. Peters, Erik was primarily responsible for defending himself.
After winning his acquittal, Erik set his sights on Christopher A. Frazier, among others. He filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Frazier for breach of contract. Erik also filed a libel and defamation lawsuit against Mr. Frazier for his false statements about Erik posted on the world wide web in the "Friends of Justice Discussion" web group. Erik won a judgment against attorney Christopher A. Frazier in excess of $60,000.00.
Unfortunately, Erik has been unable to collect that judgment. After filing a garnishment against Mr. Frazier's SunTrust bank account, Erik was not surprised to learn the account was closed. Erik also filed a garnishment against Mr. Frazier's personal property, only to learn Mr. Frazier lived in an apartment accessible by a code-accessed elevator. To this day, Erik has been unable to collect his judgment against Christopher A. Frazier.
Erik would not give up. Erik filed a complaint against Mr. Frazier for his misconduct in violation of the Rules of Ethics and Rules of Professional Conduct governing attorneys and governed by the State Bar of Georgia.
In October 2008, the Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred Christopher A. Frazier as an attorney at law. Mr. Frazier can no longer victimize anyone else. At least, not as an attorney.
In April 2009, the Clients' Security Fund of the State Bar of Georgia awarded Erik the return of his $6,000.00 payment to Mr. Frazier. While Mr. Frazier is not the only corrupt attorney in Georgia, he is, perhaps, one of the worst cases of fraudulent attorneys ever known.
In May 2009, after receiving back the $6,000.00 he lost to Mr. Frazier almost five years earlier, Erik wrote a letter to Judge Debra K. Turner admonishing Judge Turner for her irresponsibility in dismissing Judge Ray's contempt charge against Mr. Frazier in April 2005. As a result of Judge Turner's irresponsibility, Mr. Frazier continued practicing law and committing fraud upon other clients until he was disbarred in October 2008. Judge Turner continues to serve the citizens of Gwinnett County today.
To see the $6,000.00 CHECK, click here.
To see the POLICE REPORT involving attorney Chris Frazier's feigned suicide attempt, click here.
To see the DISABLED VEHICLE EMAIL from attorney Chris Frazier to the Court, click here.
To see the CONTEMPT OF COURT CHARGE against attorney Chris Frazier, click here.
To see the ORDER OF THE GEORGIA SUPREME COURT disbarring Chris Frazier, click here.
To read Erik's LETTER TO JUDGE TURNER regarding Chris Frazier disbarment, click here.
To read Erik's PETITION FOR HEARING on Judge Turner's Order dismissing Judge Ray's contempt charge against Mr. Frazier, click here.
To share your own experiences with FORMER ATTORNEY CHRISTOPHER A. FRAZIER, click here.
 ERIK TESTIFIES ON CHILD WELFARE REFORM BEFORE GEORGIA SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
February 27, 2008
On February 27, 2008, former foster parent Erik A. Cooper appeared before the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee by invitation of Senator Nancy Schaefer (R) in support of Senate Bill 415.
S.B. 415 sought to reform Georgia’s child welfare laws, recognizing the rights of biological parents to consent to medications administered to their children when in foster care, to establish legal rights for biological grandparents, to hold social workers criminally liable for presenting false information about families to the courts, and other critically long overdue measures to improve the quality of child welfare in Georgia.
Gwinnett county superior court judge and former senator William M. Ray, II attended. Judge Ray presided over Erik's criminal trial in March 2005 when the State of Georgia accused Erik of nine counts of child molestation. The accusations were made by Georgia child welfare officials and promulgated by Gwinnett district attorney Danny Porter following Erik's unprecedented civil suit to reform Georgia laws governing the adoption of foster children. Erik was acquitted by a jury on all counts. As a result of the state's accusations, Erik is prohibited from adopting or fostering children ever again.
More than a dozen biological parents, grandparents and foster parents recorded testimony and personal statements before capitol cameras to preserve a legacy of victimization, corruption and abuse at the hands of Georgia’s child welfare system. The recordings were distributed to members of the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the bill.
Before the Committee met for hearing February 27, 2008, Senator Schaefer’s proposed Bill suffered substantial changes by committee members. Having seen the Bill shredded – its core protections and reform revisions removed – Senator Schaefer admonished the committee for its failure to make changes necessary to end the abuse Georgians suffer at the hands of child welfare administrators and juvenile court judges. Senator Schaefer tabled the Bill, removing it from the hands of Committee members.
Senator Schaefer was not re-elected to her Georgia Senate seat in 2008. Georgians were left without any real advocate for meaningful child welfare reform in the Georgia General Assembly.
CLICK HERE to read Erik's testimony before the Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee.
CLICK HERE to read Erik’s article published in Fostering Families Today magazine.
CLICK HERE to see photos of the hearing.
.
To share your own experiences with CHILD WELFARE ABUSE, CLICK HERE to contact us.
|
|
