Mary Neal's Sharebook 

My children were in elementary school 14 years ago when Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were murdered, and now they are adults. Hopefully, before my grandchildren grow up, my family will finally get justice for the fraud perpetuated against us by O.J.’s “dream team” law firm – The (Johnnie) Cochran Firm. Yesterday, O.J. Simpson was sentenced to prison for 15 years to life. Judge Glass tried to keep O.J.’s Nevada trial for robbery and kidnapping free of any prejudice stemming from his 1995 murder acquittal; however, some see his lengthy sentence as delayed justice for the Hollywood murders. Many people believe in karma.

I am a member of the Neal family – victims of The Cochran Firm fraud. Mine is the only American family in the 21st Century to have a member secretly arrested and returned to his family a corpse with no explanation, excuse, arrest records, inquest, or complete autopsy report, and DENIED any investigation. At least, we certainly hope this is an uncommon occurrence. Any family in our position would try to hire the best attorneys available as their legal agents. Unfortunately, my elderly mother signed contract with The Cochran Firm to represent us against following the secret arrest and wrongful death of my mentally ill brother, Larry Neal, a heart patient who died mysteriously in Memphis/Shelby County Jail.

The Cochran Firm was supposed to represent Larry's family against Memphis/Shelby County Jail, but the “dream team” law firm merely held his case inactive for 10.5 months, knowing that Tennessee has only a 12-month statute of limitations. My mother’s tears smudge the contract she signed for legal services, which is available at the DOCUMENTS tab on our website: http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/ .

The Johnnie Cochran Firm’s Memphis office neglected to mention that its Memphis office was managed by Julian Bolton, Esq., who happened to be a member of the Shelby County Commission, which owns and operates the jail where my brother met his mysterious death. After The Cochran Firm tricked my family into believing we had wrongful death attorneys to bring Shelby County Jail to justice, Julian Bolton was promoted to County Treasurer and later to Chairman of the Board of Commissioners.

In the years since learning about The Cochran Firm's fraud, we have tried to get records and accountability regarding Larry. He was held under secret arrest for 18 days in 2003 in Memphis/Shelby County Jail while his social worker and family searched for him as a missing person. We had hoped to find Larry in time to administer his vital psychiatric and heart medications, but success was prevented by government authorities who had grown weary of him. Shelby County Jail repeatedly lied about having Larry until he was dead, assuring that Memphis police would no longer be bothered with that troublesome mental patient. To prevent a lawsuit being filed against the jail, The Johnnie Cochran Firm immediately signed contract as my elderly mother’s wrongful death attorneys in an undisclosed conflict of interest. That law firm was an impediment to justice and disclosure regarding Larry’s death in government custody – just as intended. See http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com.

Inmates who are “different” simply do not fare well in Memphis/ Shelby County Jail, whether mentally ill, gay, or transsexual, like Duanna Johnson, the murdered transgender woman who was beaten on film in the jail in February 2008. Johnson contracted with Horne, Gilluly, and Wells, PLLC to represent her in a lawsuit against Shelby County Jail, and there Julian Bolton was again. He left The Cochran Firm, sued them for defrauding him, and now practices law out of the same building and suite as Wells. What a coincidence! If Duanna’s lawsuit had been filed sooner, she would likely have been driving rather than walking on November 9 when she was shot by an unknown assailant execution style a few blocks from her residence. Suit was never filed for Duanna’s case against Shelby County Jail, either.

Three other lawsuits from 2005 and 2006 against the Memphis PD and/or Shelby County Jail are also stalled, to my knowledge. They involve three mentally ill people, including two adults and one child alleging abuse and another wrongful death. These lawsuits were all filed by a single attorney. Immediately after filing, the attorney had a heart attack. There may be no way to know how many other “unacceptably different” people have been abused or killed in Shelby County. Many acute mental patients are homeless people who long ago lost ties with family members or close friends who might look for them if they go "missing" or become police abuse victims.

Government authorities seem determined to do just as The Cochran Firm did and block attempts by Larry Neal’s family to obtain information and justice regarding Larry’s wrongful death and The Cochran Firm’s fraud. Shelby County Jail was protected from lawsuit by The Cochran Firm, and The Cochran Firm has been protected from being held accountable to my family numerous government agencies and one court. We sued The Cochran Firm for its fraud in 2005, serving suit to the firm’s advertised Atlanta office where I initially made contact the day Larry died. In 2006, Judge Wendy Shoob, of Georgia Superior Court, issued a court order giving the law office NON-EXISTENCE UNDER ITS WIDELY ADVERTISED IDENTITY. She dismissed our lawsuit. Nevertheless, television commercials, Internet ads, and The Cochran Firm’s own website never stopped advertising the Atlanta law office where we served suit as being The Cochran Firm’s Atlanta office. (Check our DOCUMENTS tab on our website to see the motions wherein this law office repeatedly denied being a Cochran Firm office, then Google "The Cochran Firm Atlanta office.")

Interestingly, the name the advertised Atlanta office of The Cochran Firm presented on court documents was Cochran Cherry Givens Smith & Sistrunk, P.C., but the Georgia Secretary of State's office revealed that no such firm was registered with the state - an alias. All P.C.'s (professional corporations) must be registered within the state where they conduct business. I found several legal cases on the Internet which these attorneys signed using that suffix – P.C. I suppose that is OK for them. Maybe I will add DDS after my name, or Notary Public, or M.D.

Here is my question: How did the Atlanta office of The Cochran Firm essentially have itself declared nonexistent by Judge Shoob in May 2006, but undertake the defense of Kathryn Johnson’s family after the 92-year-old was shot to death by police in her home in November 2006 – six months later? Reincarnation?

The Tennessee State Bar refused to censure The Cochran Firm for its unethical conduct as our attorneys. The Georgia Bar refused to even acknowledge our complaint until forced by Georgia's Attorney General's office to send us a complaint form. The FCC and FTC refuse to make The Cochran Firm clearly identify itself, and the BBB refused to take a complaint. The Tennessee Secretary of State's office actually had The Cochran Firm’s Memphis office registered as an “assumed name.” Whoever that law firm really is, normal rules just do not apply to The Johnnie Cochran Firm or to Shelby County Jail - at least, not when it comes to covering up prisoners’ deaths in county jails. Willacy County, Texas recently handed down interesting indictments concerning county jails being protected from federal investigation for inmate abuse cases. Larry’s death is probably one of those cases – something to be swept under the rug.

The trouble is that Larry’s family will not let the matter rest. As a result, we have suffered harassment, censorship, and peril. I have been followed since we successfully served suit to several defendants in our federal case now pending against The Cochran Firm. I was recently accosted at my neighborhood Chevron station by four cars and one US DOT truck. I called 911 and was denied emergency police services. If it were not for my loud mouth and other people around, I have no idea what was planned. This is amazing - the situation my family is in since insisting on accountability for the secret arrest and death of a handicapped American in government custody. Did the jail expect a "thank you" note after Larry's funeral?

Please see our YouTube videos – Cochran Firm Fraud 1 and 2, which were released for protection. The hits counter actually runs backward on the films, and it is very hard to leave comments. Since that happened on YouTube, I posted the videos to Y! Video, and a death threat video was posted on Y! as a response to mine.

The intimidation does not end there. Two men identifying themselves as FBI agents went to the home of my niece who arranged suit to be served on the Memphis office of The Cochran Firm and questioned this 45 year old woman about nude dancing, of all things. My niece had recently passed all the security checks to ascertain a government job - a position she was suddenly fired from without explanation or reason (none was needed because she was still within her probationary period).

Mainstream media refuses to report anything about Larry’s secret arrest and death, The Cochran Firm’s fraud, the law firm’s advertised Atlanta office denying its affiliation with The Cochran Firm in Georgia Superior Court, my family’s harassment and endangerment, or anything about the two law suits we filed against them, including one pending now in federal court. I suppose lawyers had sense enough to be afraid to represent my family against The Cochran Firm, but we did not know enough about the law firm's secret identity to understand the risks. My mother and I sued The Cochran Firm pro se. Despite the newsworthiness, there is a complete blackout of these events except on the Internet. Until the recent indictments of high officials as prison profiteers, my family had no explanation for this saga. I often wonder how in the world we got in the middle of an epic drama like this.

I like to keep the public informed about events as they occur through articles I write on NowPublic.com and through the organization we founded, called Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill. Hopefully, by disclosing all that happens on an ongoing basis, powerful people will recognize there is no need to do bodily harm to Larry’s family to prevent disclosure. My use of the Internet is censored and monitored, and emails related to our case against The Cochran Firm were stolen from my Yahoo email box. I am not even allowed to be the administrator of my own computer. The microphone feature of my computer will not close, and neither can the language be changed to something obscure. That is likely how people know when I plan to leave home to send my followers.

All of the intrigue surrounding the wrongful death of Larry Neal and The Cochran Firm fraud has been a bit much for a Georgia grandmother like me. I have essentially missed 2008, having to stay home to avoid being followed and perhaps killed like Duanna Johnson. My mother and I will miss Christmas shopping this Season. What I would like to know at this point is a question I asked in an article written months ago at the link below:

CAN LAW FIRMS BE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES?

http://my.nowpublic.com/health/can-law-firms-be-government-agencies-cochran-firm-fraud-w-videos

If God blesses us to win the contest, my mother and I will use proceeds to start streaming live on the Internet for extra security as we continue to pursue justice for Larry and advocate for the 1.25 million mentally ill Americans who are currently imprisoned for their “illegal” health condition – mental illness. We will be able to overcome censorship that surrounds Larry’s death and the victimization of other families who have sick members suffering cruel and unusual punishment in prisons across America because they are mentally dysfunctional. We will continue to reach out to other people who care about justice and civil rights - even the civil rights of mentally ill Americans, like my brother was. So far, my family's civil rights have been trampled by many authorities we contacted who had a responsibility to justice and public welfare.

Since starting to advocate for incarcerated mentally ill Americans, I have met many other families whose rights are similarly ignored. Taxpayers pay about $50,000 per year, per person to imprison each inmate, but warehousing each sick prisoner costs taxpayers much more – around $100,000 per year for each one. California was recently ordered to pay $8 billion to build seven new prison hospitals and spend about $230,000 annually for each patient imprisoned there. That is more than the average American family of four earns in five years! Prison profiteering is very lucrative, and mental patients comprise more than half of those imprisoned in America. As our soldiers transition home from battlefields with brain injuries and suffering from PTSD, prison profiteers likely anticipate a fresh crop of mentally ill “criminals.”

I cannot say with any certainty that any of the harassment my family and I endure is connected to our lawsuit against The Cochran Firm or our advocacy to relocate mental patients from prisons into treatment, but we are working class folks who live quiet lives, love our family, pay taxes, and mind our own business. Now we are embroiled in intrigue, especially me, because I have been most vocal about the injustice regarding Larry's secret arrest and death, and I am a named plaintiff in our federal lawsuit along with my elderly mom.

Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were killed 14 years ago. Friday, the man their families believe murdered them was sentenced to serve 15 years to life, with a minimum sentence of nine years. Memphis police, the USDOJ, state Bars, and one court have refused to do anything to bring resolution and justice regarding Larry Neal’s secret arrest and death in Shelby County Jail. Someone related to Nicole or Ron should warn O.J.’s “dream team” law firm and any co-conspirators to their fraud about the power of karma.

Mary Neal

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (Google it)

P.O. Box 7222

Atlanta, GA 30357

770.651.8413
(Internet phone - Calls are sometimes not allowed to come through)