Divorce gets ugly.
Haslam successfully defended a young firefighter against false claims of domestic violence – including a court order awarding him $17,000 in attorney’s fees – leveled by his spouse the same day she filed for divorce. You’d think this would’ve shut down the woman scorned act. But no….
After the dismissal of these false claims, the ex-spouse of the young firefighter’s new fiancé – represented by the same lawyer who represented the losing wife – determined to have another go at him. His new fiancé’s ex-spouse alleged the young dad assaulted him one afternoon when he went to pick up his own children. He filed charges with local law enforcement. And he asked for a civil protective order against the young dad.
Haslam cross-examined the ex-spouse under oath and the protective was summarily denied. Moving on to the ex-spouse’s allegation of criminal assault causing bodily injury, Haslam persuaded the Van Zandt County District Attorney to hold off on accepting the case until he could prepare a binder of materials challenging the ex-spouse’s credibility. In particular, Haslam included text messages, e-mails, and the transcript of the civil protective order hearing in which he cross-examined the ex-spouse and caught him in multiple inconsistent statements. After reviewing the binder, the prosecutor declined to even bring charges.