By Catherine Reagor and Ryan Randazzo, AZCentral.com
Rich Robertson received a phone call from Mark Hummels at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Hummels wanted a favor. He was calling to ask Robertson, a private investigator, to assist one of Hummels’ former clients, for whom he had provided free legal aid. Hummels was concerned the person needed more help, Robertson said.
“Mark was always willing to help,” Robertson said.
Although Hummels had been an attorney for less than 10 years, he was already the president of a federal Bar group, had spent hundreds of hours providing free legal aid and had garnered the respect of many of Arizona’s most prominent lawyers.
An hour later, at 9:30 a.m., Hummels was representing the chief executive of a call-center company at an arbitration meeting at a north-central Phoenix law office. Steven D. Singer, CEO of Fusion Contact Centers, was the defendant in a lawsuit. After the meeting broke up an hour later, both men were shot in front of the building. Singer died Wednesday.
Hummels, 43, was hit by bullets in the neck and back. He died Thursday night.
“We are devastated at this news about our beloved friend,” according to a statement from Osborn Maledon on Thursday.
Hummels was low-key, with a sense of humor. The judge for whom Hummels served as a law clerk remembered him as a gentle, decent person with a ferocious intellect and a “goofy” side.
Hummels had worked with Singer for several months. The shooter, Arthur Douglas Harmon, 70, had been in a nearly year-long legal battle with Singer over a business deal. Harmon was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday morning.
Praise and respect for Hummels came from every corner, from those who knew him in Arizona legal circles to those who remembered him fondly from years before.
“He wasn’t full of bluster. He would go out of his way for people,” Robertson said.
Hummels worked as a journalist before becoming a lawyer. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College, Hummels earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley in 1997. His first job was as a reporting — intern in Santa Fe for the New Mexican.
“The best thing about Mark was his attitude. He was a serious journalist but made what we do fun,” said Steve Terrell, a reporter with the paper. He and Hummels covered the New Mexico Capitol beat together. “When he became an attorney, we all teased Mark about how serious he looked in his work photo. We have a picture from his going-away party when he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, smoking a fake cigar and crossing his eyes.”
Terrell checked his e-mails Wednesday night after hearing about the shooting to see when he last connected with Hummels.
“It was in 2005, after the birth of one of his sons,” he said. “He was so happy to be father. He and (his wife) Dana were a great couple.”
Geoff Grammer, a sports reporter with the Albuquerque Journal, worked as an intern at the New Mexican when Hummels was there.
“Mark treated people, his sources, with respect. He made me want to become a reporter,” Grammer said.
Hummels left the New Mexican in 2001 to attend law school at the University of Arizona. He graduated summa cum laude in 2004 and earned the highest score on the Arizona Bar exam that year.
Judge Andrew Hurwitz of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Hummels a job as a clerk when Hurwitz served on the Arizona Supreme Court in 2004.
“Everyone I know in Arizona told me I must hire him immediately because he was the smartest guy they had ever met,” Hurwitz said outside the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix on Thursday. “They were all right, but they also forgot to tell me he was also the nicest guy.” He said that he and Hummels “became fast and dear friends.”
“This is a day of unspeakable sorrow,” he said. “We all feel so helpless.”
Hurwitz described Hummels as a gentle, intelligent, decent person who was an avid swimmer and had a “goofy” side that included riding a unicycle.
After working for Hurwitz, Hummels joined Osborn Maledon in 2005. His practice focused on business disputes, real-estate litigation and legal-malpractice defense. He was arbitrating a business dispute with real-estate ties before he was shot.
“It was a catch for our firm to get someone like Mark Hummels to come and join us,” Bill Maledon said. “We are devastated by this senseless, tragic loss of our friend and partner. It is a tragic loss, not just for our firm but for our community.”
Hummels volunteered with the Arizona Justice Project, a group that helps inmates try to overturn wrongful convictions.
“Mark spent hours and hours preparing an educational presentation on the Ray Krone case,” said Lindsay Herf, DNA project manager for the legal non-profit. “We have used his work to educate hundreds of attorneys and law students.”
Ray Krone was convicted of murder in 1991 and spent a decade in prison. He was exonerated based on DNA evidence.
Hummels also served as president of the Phoenix chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
He lived with his wife and elementary school-age sons in Phoenix’s Arcadia neighborhood.
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Arpaio Plans to Deploy Armed Posse to Phoenix Area Schools
by KYMA-TV News 11 - December 2012
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he plans to deploy his armed volunteer posse to protect Phoenix-area schools from the kind of attacks that left 20 students and six educators dead in Connecticut on Dec. 14.
Arpaio tells KTVK-TV he has the authority to mobilize private citizens to fight crime in Maricopa County but hasn't talked to specific districts. He says he doesn't plan to put posse volunteers inside schools but will have them posted on school perimeters.
The plan the sheriff announced Thursday comes a day after two other politicians announced their ideas for beefing up Arizona school security. Attorney General Tom Horne proposed firearms training for one person in each school. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu proposed training multiple educators per school to carry guns.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he plans to deploy his armed volunteer posse to protect Phoenix-area schools from the kind of attacks that left 20 students and six educators dead in Connecticut on Dec. 14.
Arpaio tells KTVK-TV he has the authority to mobilize private citizens to fight crime in Maricopa County but hasn't talked to specific districts. He says he doesn't plan to put posse volunteers inside schools but will have them posted on school perimeters.
The plan the sheriff announced Thursday comes a day after two other politicians announced their ideas for beefing up Arizona school security. Attorney General Tom Horne proposed firearms training for one person in each school. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu proposed training multiple educators per school to carry guns.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Family Reunites After Woman's Disappearance Half a Century Ago
by Andrew Colgrove, WSAZ NEWS 3, September 15, 2011
If one of your family members disappeared, how long would you keep looking for them?
One family's persistence and unwillingness to give up hope finally paid off after their loved one vanished more than half a century ago.
Emma Dartey remembers the last day she ever saw her big sister Shelby.
"I remember her going up the street, taking the bicycle saying she was going to deliver the mail to somebody, and that's the last time I saw her," Emma said.
They say Shelby ran away on May 26, 1958 when she was 19 because she was in a bad marriage. She never came back.
"It was sad wondering if she was dead or if someone had hurt her," Emma said.
"It was hard,” Shelby’s other sister Linda Davis said. “I think she knew one day we'd find her. We never gave up."
The family, from Westwood, Kentucky, searched for decades with no success, but they recently hired a private investigator who was able to track Shelby down. She’s been working as a waitress in Phoenix, Arizona.
A few weeks ago, Linda flew out to see her at her restaurant.
"She didn't recognize me,” Linda said, “so she sat down at the table. She said, “Hun, I don't believe I know who you are,’ so I just got up and put my arms around her, told her I loved her, and I was her baby sister, and she broke down and cried."
Wednesday, for the first time in more than half a century, Shelby came home. She flew into the Tri-State Airport, where more than a dozen of her family members greeted her with kisses and hugs.
"I prayed every night that one of these days God would let me see them again,” Shelby said. "That empty feeling in my heart, it finally was filled."
Shelby says as the years passed, she wanted to return home, but was too afraid.
"When I left I was young,” she said. “I thought if I come back now, they have their own life, their own family, and they probably won't accept me, but I was wrong."
"I’m really happy to see her,” Emma said.
Now the family is adamant they won't let another half a century go by without being together again.
Shelby also had two children of her own here before she left. They were 3 and 2 years old at the time.
Her son is driving up from Alabama to reunite with her, and she'll be traveling to Georgia to see her daughter
If one of your family members disappeared, how long would you keep looking for them?
One family's persistence and unwillingness to give up hope finally paid off after their loved one vanished more than half a century ago.
Emma Dartey remembers the last day she ever saw her big sister Shelby.
"I remember her going up the street, taking the bicycle saying she was going to deliver the mail to somebody, and that's the last time I saw her," Emma said.
They say Shelby ran away on May 26, 1958 when she was 19 because she was in a bad marriage. She never came back.
"It was sad wondering if she was dead or if someone had hurt her," Emma said.
"It was hard,” Shelby’s other sister Linda Davis said. “I think she knew one day we'd find her. We never gave up."
The family, from Westwood, Kentucky, searched for decades with no success, but they recently hired a private investigator who was able to track Shelby down. She’s been working as a waitress in Phoenix, Arizona.
A few weeks ago, Linda flew out to see her at her restaurant.
"She didn't recognize me,” Linda said, “so she sat down at the table. She said, “Hun, I don't believe I know who you are,’ so I just got up and put my arms around her, told her I loved her, and I was her baby sister, and she broke down and cried."
Wednesday, for the first time in more than half a century, Shelby came home. She flew into the Tri-State Airport, where more than a dozen of her family members greeted her with kisses and hugs.
"I prayed every night that one of these days God would let me see them again,” Shelby said. "That empty feeling in my heart, it finally was filled."
Shelby says as the years passed, she wanted to return home, but was too afraid.
"When I left I was young,” she said. “I thought if I come back now, they have their own life, their own family, and they probably won't accept me, but I was wrong."
"I’m really happy to see her,” Emma said.
Now the family is adamant they won't let another half a century go by without being together again.
Shelby also had two children of her own here before she left. They were 3 and 2 years old at the time.
Her son is driving up from Alabama to reunite with her, and she'll be traveling to Georgia to see her daughter
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Police Officer Moonlighting As Private Investigator in Phoenix
Posted in the Phoenix News, updated March 1, 2011
Arizona law could soon change the limits of what police officers are allowed to do in their free time.
It was the off-duty work of a Tolleson police officer that prompted lawmakers to propose Senate Bill 1020. The bill would make it illegal for active or reserve police officers to also work as private investigators.
Tolleson police Cmndr. Wayne Booher was caught on tape offering his services as a private investigator.
"We've been doing it for years now," he's heard saying on the recording. "We do a variety of investigations. We do private investigations, we do unarmed security and armed security. We do police officers. We do surveillance."
The person who made the recording can be heard asking Booher, "You're licensed by the state, right?" Booher answers, "Yeah."
Booher apparently did apply for a private investigator's license through the Arizona Department of Public Safety -- which is the licensing agency.
DPS in turn opened an investigation into Booher's extracurricular activities. Operating as a P.I. without a license is a class one misdemeanor. DPS said the investigation was closed and it did not punish Booher. DPS has still not provided CBS 5 Investigates with a copy of the report and refused to discuss the case on camera.
Private investigator Justin Yentis sees a potential conflict for a police officer who moonlights as a P.I.
"A police officer has access to certain information that a P.I. does not have as readily available," said Yentis. "For example, MVD (Motor Vehicle Department) information, case histories, criminal backgrounds of certain individuals. A P.I. has to request that information via the public records law or FOIA. Whereas a member of law enforcement can generally get that information with a phone call."
Booher says he's done nothing wrong.
"We were running a private investigations business doing private investigations business, subcontracting the work out," said Booher. "We were advertising that, but we hadn't done any work because we had just started the company."
But that's not what Booher said in that secret recording..
"This company has been in business for three years," Booher said on the recording. "I personally have done surveillance for 21 years. I know it inside and out."
CBS 5 Investigates asked Booher about that recording.
"I was set up," he said. "Certainly the person that called us and wanted us to do some work for him misrepresented himself."
Either way, if Senate Bill 1020 gets through the House of Representatives and is signed by the governor, police officers will not be allowed to also work as private investigators.
Arizona law could soon change the limits of what police officers are allowed to do in their free time.
It was the off-duty work of a Tolleson police officer that prompted lawmakers to propose Senate Bill 1020. The bill would make it illegal for active or reserve police officers to also work as private investigators.
Tolleson police Cmndr. Wayne Booher was caught on tape offering his services as a private investigator.
"We've been doing it for years now," he's heard saying on the recording. "We do a variety of investigations. We do private investigations, we do unarmed security and armed security. We do police officers. We do surveillance."
The person who made the recording can be heard asking Booher, "You're licensed by the state, right?" Booher answers, "Yeah."
Booher apparently did apply for a private investigator's license through the Arizona Department of Public Safety -- which is the licensing agency.
DPS in turn opened an investigation into Booher's extracurricular activities. Operating as a P.I. without a license is a class one misdemeanor. DPS said the investigation was closed and it did not punish Booher. DPS has still not provided CBS 5 Investigates with a copy of the report and refused to discuss the case on camera.
Private investigator Justin Yentis sees a potential conflict for a police officer who moonlights as a P.I.
"A police officer has access to certain information that a P.I. does not have as readily available," said Yentis. "For example, MVD (Motor Vehicle Department) information, case histories, criminal backgrounds of certain individuals. A P.I. has to request that information via the public records law or FOIA. Whereas a member of law enforcement can generally get that information with a phone call."
Booher says he's done nothing wrong.
"We were running a private investigations business doing private investigations business, subcontracting the work out," said Booher. "We were advertising that, but we hadn't done any work because we had just started the company."
But that's not what Booher said in that secret recording..
"This company has been in business for three years," Booher said on the recording. "I personally have done surveillance for 21 years. I know it inside and out."
CBS 5 Investigates asked Booher about that recording.
"I was set up," he said. "Certainly the person that called us and wanted us to do some work for him misrepresented himself."
Either way, if Senate Bill 1020 gets through the House of Representatives and is signed by the governor, police officers will not be allowed to also work as private investigators.
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