Three Months Of Billing By Akerman Senterfitt Re: Client Attorney Stephanie Howell In Probate Case: The Estate Of William

H. Olney
After the January 7, 2005 FDLE complaint to Special Agent Supervisor Bob Oconnor, flushed out the billing records re: probate case The Estate of William H. Olney, subpoenaed on April 27, 2005, all hell broke loose. Attorney Bill Olney had committed suicide at his 82 year old mothers house on April 23, 2002 and it was exactly 3 years and 4 days later when those incriminating records surfaced. Akerman, Senterfitt and their client, the Black Widow Stephanie Howell, had already rebuffed my previous attempt to secure those particular billing records thru subpoena issued at my direction by Attorney John Gutmacher in a civil lawsuit Vega vs Howell (see Complaint Vega vs Howell parts 1-5 here on scribd.com). As recalled that particular lawsuit arose from Howells bogus injunction and supposedly it was to recover damages as a result of a malicious prosecution wherein Howell ended up voluntarily dismissing her repeat violence injunction , first against Lucey Olney per probate settlement (May 8, 2003) and then 6 months later against Vega, when my attorney threatened to file a motion asking for sanctions against Howells attorney James Taylor for his misconduct in participating in and enabling Howells injunction charade. I was never interested in any damages especially once I figured out what Howell had pulled off in the probate case, essentially having her legal representation, Stacy Cole and by proxy, Akerman Senterfitt, bankroll her probate litigation . Probably set up as a contingency fee arrangement (a violation of Florida Bar rules of conduct and probate rules of civil procedure in Florida). I was ready to move on to the FDLE.

So in reality Howell was given a blank check to pursue her mission of having her deceased husbands mother fork over $150,000 plus or face open-ended litigation which would result in the bankruptcy/financial ruin of the elderly Mary Olney, who was being forced to pay her way to stave off losing her home and life savings. All this after Howells 51 day marriage to Bill Olney, who incidentally had previously (before marriage) acquired joint ownership of his mothers assets thru power of attorney, as a means of probate avoidance in the case of his mothers death. Big mistake. And when Howell married Bill, she conveniently knew all about the arrangement since it was through her advice that Bill went about his misguided estate planning on behalf of his mother and his 3 sisters. The living trust was the real way this could have been accomplished but then Howell could not have made off with the mothers assets when Mary Olney passed. Im sorry to say that the endgame plan had been for Bill and his wife to keep the assets in such a circumstance and leave his 3 sisters with nothing. Bill and his mother paid for his greed and his wifes greed. So I settled with Howell for $100 once I had the FDLE pick up the ball (and I mistakenly thought do something). My attorney fees in the Vega vs Howell litigation came to about $15,000, money well worth it. Unless Howells attorney, Mayanne Downs, pulled an Akerman re: attorneys fees, Howell would have had to be out at least $20,000 since Attorney Downs was more expensive than my attorney, hourly-fee wise. Consider this recent posting by the Florida Bar:

ORLANDO ATTORNEY SET TO BECOME BAR PRESIDENT AT FLORIDA BAR ANNUAL CONVENTION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 11, 2010 CONTACT: Francine Anda Walker, The Florida Bar TELEPHONE: (850) 561-5666

Orlando attorney Mayanne Downs will become The Florida Bar's 62nd president on June 25 when she is sworn in during the Bar's 2010 Annual Convention. West Palm Beach attorney Scott G. Hawkins will be sworn in as president-elect at the same ceremony, which is being held at the Boca Raton Resort.

If Mayanne Downs billed her client honestly and realistically (for actual time worked, as opposed to Akerman, Senterfitt), then Howells $23,000 settlement, extorted from 83 year old Mary Olney, was almost completely wiped out by my lawsuit. Only Mayanne Downs and her client, the Black Widow know the truth and they aint talking. I settled Vega vs Howell in July 2005 because I wasnt going to take any chances that Downs political and judiciary contacts were going to make sure my case wasnt going to succeed on its merits. By political I would mean Orange County Clerk of Courts Lydia Gardner and her lack of oversight re: her staff (starting with her legal counsel Stephanie Howell) and policies that were in violation of her own Employee Handbook and blatant violations of the law by her employees (anybody remember wiretapping from Gardners office?). And it wasnt just the Clerk of Courts side of the courthouse that had run amuck, it was also its evil twin, its other half that served the judiciary and its processes, Court Administration and its attendant Family Court Case Management Services. By judiciary I refer to Judge Hauser and Judge Sprinkel who stood much to lose if my line of inquiry were to continue (see Complaint Vega vs Howell parts 1-5, plus Harrelson, Garrett depos here on scribd.com). We cant forget the Judicial Assistants who would fall on their sword rather than betray their Honorable(?) Masters, and Im talking about Judge Hausers JA Kathleen Olson who knew exactly what sort of machinations Hauser and Howell were up to. And what kind of relationship they had. Ditto for Judge Sprinkels JA, Annette Tracy, who also knew how Judge Sprinkel and Howell had engineered their bogus repeat violence domestic injunction against my wife and I and where Sprinkel really was when he signed it (see Complaint Vega vs Howell parts 3 & 4). Annette Tracy also knew her boss was the judge in Howells bitter, contentious child custody/alimony case, Howell vs Howell (5 years ongoing) and that Howell was concurrently embroiled in the probate battle, an ongoing financial rape of the 83 year old mother of the deceased attorney William H. Olney.

And she knew about the wiretap tapes that Sprinkel was sitting on because my wife and I had turned them over the summer of 2002 to Patrick Howell to use in an upcoming deposition of Stephanie Howell and we had been subpoenaed to present them to the court and Judge Bronson, but blocked by Howell and her attorney James Taylor. We were told there would be a ruling in 30 days but we never were called back and then found out that Judge Bronson had mysteriously been replaced by the ubiquitous Judge Sprinkel in a Zelig like appearance. It would only be a few months later that Judge Hauser, Judge Sprinkel and Howell would conspire to have us served with their bogus/stupid injunction in the courthouse, in the public records room while we were in the midst of copying documents, now for the third day (April 1 thru April 3) from Howells divorce court case file, which Howell and Harrelson had been hiding for months. It contained the wiretap depo Patrick Howell had sprung on his wife the summer before and that depo was a job killer for Howell if Lydia Gardner ever caught wind of it. Forget about the criminal aspects of tape recording someone (Patrick Howell) illegally from Lydia Gardners office in the Orange County Courthouse on the 20th floor. And my wife and I were determined to have that depo filed in the probate court case (which we did on April 1, 2003). Needless to say Stephanie Howell suddenly got a hankering to settle that 5-year running child custody/alimony case (to Patricks favor) and the probate case that had Mary Olney bleeding money ($100,000 plus) since hiring Mark Lang in September 2002, 8 months earlier. Not only did Howell settle both cases within days of each other but also within 35 days of having my wife and I served in the courthouse that April 3, 2003. For a measly $23,000. And she dropped my wifes injunction but not Louis Vega. Ha ha ha. So even though Mayanne Downs client was Howell, the interests of the courthouse and Hauser and Sprinkel were on the line should my lawsuit

spiral out of control and start exposing the dark underbelly of goings on at the courthouse. Mayanne Downs was the perfect attorney to stop me, but I had no interest in going there. I just wanted the billing records and 6 months after I settled FDLE got them for me. Unfortunately that didnt serve the interests of Akerman, Senterfitt, the biggest most powerful politically connected law firm in the state of Florida. Mayanne Downs and client Howell filed a motion to stop my subpoena of those billing records. *Footnote: Two years after my settlement Mayanne Downs almost died. Heres the excerpt from the same Florida Bar article quoted earlier: July/August, 2010 Volume 84, No. 7 Mayanne Downs: President of The Florida Bar Page 10 Deep in a coma, Mayanne Downs teetered on the brink of death in an Orlando hospital. Three years ago, a stuck kidney stone caused sepsis, a severe bacterial infection spreading through her bloodstream. Downs digestive system and lungs had shut down. Hooking her up to a respirator, doctors gave her a 25 percent chance of survival. To save her life, doctors put her in a medically induced coma. She died twice. Well, she was hanging on by one thread. There was a point where I had made peace and had to face that I might not see my mom again, says her 19-year-old son Barry Rigby, a bass guitarist and student at Berklee College of Music in Boston. While Downs lay unconscious in the ICU, a whos who list of Orlandos notables milled in the hallway. At first, a few friends kept round-the-clock vigil in a tiny space they called the closet. When so many people showed up to rally for Downs recovery, theyd commandeered a conference room. It became the most extraordinary, temporary social network of the most diverse people you could imagine, describes friend and mentor Fifth District Court of Appeal Judge Jackie Griffin. I think every possible spiritual voice from evangelicals to Episcopal, from Jewish Kabbalah and spiritual healers was in the room.

by Jan Pudlow

Neighborhood friend Judy Doyle will never forget witnessing this bedside scene: Cathy DownsPhoenix was afraid her sister wouldnt make it through the night. Downs-Phoenix, a nurse, grasped the gravity of the situation, and with tears in her eyes, gathered friends in a circle around Downs bed. One by one, she asked them to say a faith prayer or something spiritual, and pointed to Anne Conway, chief judge of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, to go first. Ninth Circuit Judge Alice Blackwell said of her friends illness: While it might have made others more timid or insular, within four or five weeks, Mayannes attitude was: Im ready to roll! She was back at life full speed. Biff Marshall, president and managing director of GrayRobinson, who knew Downs before law school and has hired her to represent his firm, says: She is the combination of intelligence, tenacity, and willingness to get things done, unlike anyone Ive ever known. (Judge Hauser hired Attorney John M. Brennan of GrayRobinson to fight off my subpoena for his deposition re: Vega vs Howell, see Complaint Vega vs Howell part 4 the judges)

Unfortunately FDLE attorney Steve Brady wasnt so lucky.

A Three Month Billing Summary Sample With Attendant Case Documentation

So I include here now three months of billing by Akerman, Senterfitt , obtained by subpoena by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement: Octobers billings, Novembers billings and Decembers billings out of the total 11 billing statements submitted, June, 2002 through May 2003 with one missing- Septembers billings. Why its missing, I have no idea and FDLE made no mention of it. But coincidentally, that is the same month that Mary Olney was able to secure representation in a probate matter where everything she owned, home, all financials and bank accounts, was at stake.

His name was Mark Lang and I include his letter of retention on Mary Olneys behalf here before the main exhibit, the three month cycle of billings and all correspondence between the 3 attorneys for those 3 months, estate attorney Peggy Hoyt, Howells attorney, Stacy Cole, and Mary Olneys attorney, Mark Lang. Please be aware that all this legal back and forth had to equally be reviewed by all 3 attorneys and Howells attorney Stacy Cole was doing much more than sending and reading letters. Much much more. Those letters represent only a fraction of the work Cole was doing on client Howells behalf and due to the hysterical nature of Howells personality, fielding phone calls and meetings with Howell alone could have resulted in many a billable hour if Akerman, Senterfitt attorney Cole was being honest and forthright in her billings per client Howell. Howells total billing summary as revealed through subpoena shows that not to be the case. I have estate attorney Peggy Hoyts billings since my wife Lucey Olney was the executor of the estate and we also have Mark Langs billings since Mary Olney was Lucey Olneys mother. The discrepancy is so large and so apparent and so obvious that not only were Howell and Coles (and Akerman, Senterfitt) legal interactions conspiratorially misleading and fraudulent according to the billing record submitted to the FDLE, but then the FDLE joined them when they shut down the investigation at the direction of Orlando FDLE attorney Steve Brady (and penultimately on orders emanating from Governor Jeb Bushs office). See my letter from Steve Brady (included here after Mark Langs letter) dated November 3, 2006 stating his position that the case was closed period.

Two years later on September 22, 2008, Steve Brady was found dead with a gunshot to the head, along with his wife, Pamela Brady (with a plastic bag around her head), in their New Smyrna, Florida home.

Sources Say FDLE Attorney Found Dead At Home In Volusia County

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. Two bodies were found Monday in a home on Cedar Avenue owned by a high-profile attorney with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Sources told Eyewitness News it may have been the deadly end to a love affair. There still appears to be some uncertainty about whether it was a double-suicide or perhaps a murder-suicide, but sources told Eyewitness News it was FDLE attorney Steve Brady who died. As the medical examiner removed two bodies from the house in New Smyrna Beach, multiple sources close to the investigation confirmed they belonged to Steven and Pamela Brady. While the Florida Department of Law Enforcement won't confirm it's him, Steve Brady was in his 20th year as the regional legal advisor for the FDLE. "Total shock, absolute shock, they were such nice people," said neighbor Paulette Ross. Ross and other neighbors gathered outside Monday as New Smyrna Beach police investigated. Officers discovered the bodies just after 9:30 in the morning, when an unidentified person asked them to check on the house. "Anytime we're asked to do a wellbeing check, we exhaust all means. Someone looked in there and saw someone on a bed, so we gained access," explained Sgt. Mike Brouillette, New Smyrna Beach Police Department. While investigators sort out how the two people died, sources and even some neighbors told Eyewitness News that Steve Brady had been involved in an affair with another FDLE employee that was recently exposed. So far, no one will confirm if that was a motive in their deaths, but sources said it's possible it was a double-suicide. "It's very sad, very sad, very emotional. A lot of people knew them. They were very well-liked," Ross said. As a legal adviser for the FDLE, Steve helped investigators on cases, often to determine if they had enough evidence to charge someone with a crime.

The Sanford Herald

Teacher, husband found dead in home
by Rachel Delinski, Herald Staff September 24 2008

Pamela Palmer Brady NEW SMYRNA BEACH Former Florida Department of Law Enforcement prosecutor Steven G. Brady and his wife, Seminole school teacher Pamela Palmer Brady, were both found dead in their New Smyrna Beach home early Monday. According to the New Smyrna Beach Police Department, autopsies performed Tuesday morning concluded that Steven G. Brady died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Pamela Brady, who taught at Crystal Lake Elementary in Lake Mary, did not reveal any obvious signs of trauma to her body and the exact cause of death is pending toxicology result and additional investigation, police said. The NSBPD received a call about 9:35 a.m. Monday requesting a check at the couples 312 Cedar Ave. residence after Mrs. Brady did not show up for work. After gaining access to the residence, police found both bodies. She was 56 years old and her husband was 58. Brady served as a regional law adviser n for the FDLE Orlando Regional Operations Center for 23 years. He was also a Vietnam veteran. Joyce Dawley, FDLE Special Agent in Charge, said, Steve was both well-known and widely regarded, and was a friend to many within the law-enforcement profession. He touched all he knew with his sense of humor. His FDLE family will miss him dearly.

SCPS arranged for grief counselors at Crystal Lake Elementary in case students and teachers wanted someone to talk to.

The Orlando Sentinel

FDLE: Office affair began spiral that ended in suicide
December 05, 2008|By Rene Stutzman, Sentinel Staff Writer The Florida Department of Law Enforcement lawyer who killed himself at his New Smyrna Beach home in September had been having a yearlong affair with a co-worker, the secret got out, and both knew they were in trouble with the agency, according to a newly released state report. Steve Brady, 58, was found dead in his home Sept. 22. Nearby was the body of his wife, Pamela Brady, 56. Steve Brady had put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, according to his autopsy report. New Smyrna Beach police would not say what killed Pamela Brady. There were no signs of trauma to her body, and that investigation is continuing. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement released its internal-affairs report on Steve Brady on Wednesday night. The agency did not explain what happened at the Bradys' home or why the longtime husband and wife wound up dead. But the report made clear that Brady had broken agency rules, as had his lover, Vicki Canter, 45, of Port Orange, an FDLE investigator working in Daytona Beach. The agency launched its investigation Aug. 15, the day after Canter's husband, Douglas Canter, 48, returned home early from an out-of-state trip. He found Brady in his living room with his wife, who was wearing only a towel. Douglas Canter charged at Brady, and the men fought, according to a police report. They fell to the floor wrestling, and Brady got Douglas Canter in a headlock. Before letting him up, Brady threatened to kill Douglas Canter, Brady admitted to his FDLE interviewer. Brady called his boss that night and was suspended with pay the next day. He retired one month later, Sept. 15, effective immediately. One week later, he was found dead. Aside from the gunshot wound to his head, the medical examiner found nothing unusual, except that Brady's blood-alcohol level indicated he was drunk.

FDLE spokeswoman Heather Smith would not say Thursday whether Brady retired under the threat of dismissal. He had been with the agency 23 years. Vicki Canter resigned Oct. 6. She was not available for comment Thursday. According to a family member, she has moved and is getting a divorce. Brady was assigned to the agency's Orlando office, but for the past two years had worked two days a week in Daytona Beach, the office where Canter worked. Both admitted the affair. They had been meeting for sex at a hotel for about a year, Brady told his FDLE investigator. Their decision to have sex in Canter's home the afternoon they were caught, Brady told the investigator, was the stupidest thing he had ever done. The agency concluded that both employees had discredited FDLE and engaged in unethical behavior. They also broke the rules by using their computers and cell phones for non-agency business -- to communicate with each other.