<off topic>
An attorney named Sheldon Sherman served as defense lawyer in the following bizarre case tried in San Diego. I don't know if it's the same individual, but the details of the case are sufficiently bizarre that the name of the defense lawyer might well stay in one's mind after reading the article.
'Butcher Brown' Sentenced in Amputation Murder
Man Died After Having Healthy Leg Removed
Dec. 17, 1999
By Randy Dotinga
SAN DIEGO (APBnews.com) -- Appalled by an unlicensed doctor's apparent disregard for his patients, a judge sentenced a man known as "Butcher Brown" to 15 years to life for botching the surgery of a man who wanted his healthy leg cut off.
The victim, who had an unusual amputation fetish, had his leg removed in a Tijuana clinic and later died of complications in a San Diego-area motel room where he had been left alone.
In addition to his sentence for second-degree murder, John Ronald Brown, 77, also received seven three-year sentences for fumbling the surgeries of seven transsexuals. The judge gave Brown a break, allowing him to serve those sentences concurrently.
Brown's attorney, Sheldon Sherman, called the prison sentences a "death warrant" for his ill client.
"He'll never survive," Sherman said.
Limbs are 'alien' body parts
An appeal is expected and may be based on the unusual international circumstances of the murder case.
The murder charges against Brown revolved around a rare obsession known as apotemnophilia -- the desire to amputate a perfectly healthy limb. Apotemnophilia is generally described as a sexual fetish, similar to that of people who desire sexual relations with disabled people.
A mental-health counselor from New York City and friend of the murder victim testified that people with apotemnophilia feel that limbs are "alien" parts of their bodies and must be removed to make them whole again.
An 80-year-old New York man named Philip Bondy had the disorder and learned about Brown's willingness to conduct unusual "underground" surgeries, such as sex-change operations, according to testimony.
Victim was left 'delighted'
Brown's medical license was revoked in 1977 for incompetence, and he served a three-year prison term in the 1980s for botching surgeries on an Orange County man who was undergoing operations in preparation for a sex change.
Bondy had been searching for nearly his entire life for a doctor to cut off his leg, testified the New York mental-health counselor, who has the same amputation obsession. He met Bondy through the amputation fetish grapevine.
Bondy came to San Diego and then went to Tijuana on May 9, 1998, for the surgery. Brown cut off Bondy's left leg, leaving the man "delighted," the friend said.
But the happiness did not last long. Bondy then went to a motel in the San Diego suburb of National City, near the Mexican border, to recover. Within two days, he developed gangrene and died at the motel.
Suicide after botched surgery
In October, after brief deliberations, a jury found Bondy guilty of second-degree murder, an unusually harsh verdict in a medical-related case.
This was not the first time Brown had committed medical malpractice.
Prosecutors also charged him with seven counts of bungling surgeries on transsexuals. The operations included sex changes and breast implant procedures.
One of the seven committed suicide.
Before the murder trial, Brown pleaded guilty to seven counts of performing medical procedures without a license and causing great bodily harm.
Two of the transsexuals testified in the murder trial.
Defense asked for leniency
Sherman told Judge Bernard Revak that his client deserved leniency.
"I argued to the jury that Mr. Brown cared for the segments of society that no one else could deal with," he said. "He is not an uncaring, unfeeling butcher who went around the country wreaking havoc on the less fortunate. This man is a courageous individual who tried to do the best he could do. He is not a murderer."
But Prosecutor Stacy Running said the defense attorney's argument was "crap" and pointed out that he had described Brown's patients as "weirdos" in front of the jury.
She said Brown specifically targeted his victims "because they are vulnerable and considered the scourges of society," she said.
He 'left the man to die'
The transsexuals who underwent operations have suffered tremendously. Some have mangled genitalia and "cannot function as man or woman," she said. "They have pain. ... They are real people, and they placed their hope in him. And he violated it in every possible way."
Brown could "see like a neon light that he is incompetent as a surgeon" but still operated on Bondy, she said.
"He is a butcher," she said. "He is a butcher, whether he likes to hear it or not. 'Butcher Brown,' that's how he is known throughout the United States."
Before announcing the sentence, Revak said he was shocked by Brown's lack of caring for Bondy. Revak said he was not referring to medical care, "but just care for a fellow human being."
"He would deposit [Bondy] in a motel in National City ... to basically rot," Revak said. "I don't think he really cared about Mr. Bondy. He did what he was paid to do for $10,000 and left the man to die."
Eligible for parole in 12 years
Brown, who appeared pale and shaken up, had no reaction to his sentence. Outside the courtroom, Brown's attorney said the case may be appealed. The judge opened himself up for problems by allowing the jury to consider that the act of cutting off Bondy's leg constituted murder, even though it happened in another country, Sheldon said.
The Mexican authorities have no interest in this case, Sherman said.
Brown could be up for parole in 12 years, the prosecutor said.
Randy Dotinga is an APBnews.com West Coast correspondent (rdotinga@aol.com).
apbnews.com
(The online article includes a picture of Sheldon Sherman.) |
