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Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 11:29:34 PM EST
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Dutch teen Joran van der Sloot finally decided to publicly answer missing woman Natalie Holloway's mother, who has had more face time on tv than anyone in recent memory, and more often than not uses it to to denigrate him and accuse him of lying or having something to do with her daughter's Aruba disappearance. The networks, eager to cater to the public's lust for missing white woman stories, have been only too eager to go along. [For the best interviews with Joran, see last week's with Greta, available here and here and here.]

Joran, who is in college in Amsterdam (after for all intents and purposes being run out of the country by the negative media blitz against him), came to New York a few weeks ago to go on tv and defend himself in the court of public opinion. He may have wished he stayed in Amsterdam. While in New York, the Holloways had him and his father served with a civil lawsuit (text here, html) with claims of injuring a minor, false imprisonment and interfering with custodial relations.

So now, Joran has lawyered up -- with my good pal and New York heavyweight defense lawyer Joe Tacopina.

Meanwhile, the family of Joran van der Sloot, who has been linked to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba, has hired hotshot New York defense attorney Joe Tacopina. The Holloway family hit the Van der Sloots with a civil suit last month when they visited New York to appear on "Good Morning America."

Tacopina....tells us: "Three countries have investigated this disappearance and three countries have not found one shred of evidence that points to Joran. This kid is a victim too. He is an 18-year-old kid and his life has basically been ruined."

I'm glad to see Joran fighting back, and no one could do a better job for him than Joe. Joran has been attacked for the past year on television night after night with no credible evidence he had anything to do with Natalee Holloway's ultimate fate, whatever that may be. I have no idea what Joe is planning, but I hope it involves a motion to dismiss and failing that, a big counterclaim against the Holloways. If you read the complaint, linked above, you'll see what I mean.

You can catch Joe tonight on Greta's show, and probably on every cable news network Wednesday.

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    Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up | 25 comments (25 topical)
    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 03:48:08 AM EST
    While on the merits this is an interesting legal story and I don't blame the kid one bit, ENOUGH with this international obsession with the likes of natalee holloway and all things related to it. I hope all they take all reasonable steps to get to the bottom of this case. I just wish everyone involved would take a collective vow of silence.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 04:12:22 AM EST
    I think the parents of Natalee have been hitting Joran so hard to keep people from asking what the crap were they doing letting their too young to be responsible daughter out by herself in a foreign country. Obviously, Natalee had not coping skills to keep herself safe, that is the parent's responsibility. From the whole story, she may very well have been swept out to see during the tide and there may never be closure. I sure hope Joran lawyers up. I HATE that there are so many missing young blond stories out there taking up media time when we have a war criminal torturing and taking away our rights without the media blinking.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 04:15:01 AM EST
    I can spell better than that... Natalee had no coping skills and sea not see

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#4)
    by Lis Riba on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 05:09:24 AM EST
    OMG, that preliminary statement (Pg3) reads like the script to a movie trailer rather than a legal document. IANAL, but am I right in thinking that's entirely the wrong tone for a legal document?

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 06:55:00 AM EST
    Ruth writes:
    Obviously, Natalee had not coping skills to keep herself safe, that is the parent's responsibility.
    Oh, really? She was 18, on a trip with friends and chaperons in a supposedly safe vaction spot. Tell me Ruth, at what point do you let a young girl out in the world? Twenty five? Thirty? Maybe we should make sure they keep their head and face covered at all times, and never, never, be anywhere without a male family member with them. And school? No way. Ignorant, barefoot and pregnant is the best thing for them. Ruth, do you consider yourself liberated? But that really isn't your concern, is it? You clearly identify your motive in your last paragraph.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 07:17:47 AM EST
    As do you, Jim. Must shill for Shrub. Must shill for Shrub.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 07:18:26 AM EST
    The parents of the then underaged Dutch boy are named in the suit. The gist of the argument seems to be that they knew that he hung out unsupervised in bars and casinos picking up chicks and they are therefore partly to blame for whatever happened (even if we don't know what happened). That was a real problem it rurned out because the boy met the underaged Natalie at a casino where she was drunk. Far from the supervision of her parents.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#8)
    by demohypocrates on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 07:33:32 AM EST
    No coping skills? Was that remark made in earnest? It is one thing to say, and which I would agree, that this case has garnered way too much media attention. But transferring your anger about the overexposure onto the victim is sick. Why do you hold so much animus towards this girl? Presumption of innocence doesn't mean presumption of the victim's guilt. Pity the war criminal. Pox upon the young blondes.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 07:50:54 AM EST
    To be fair, we don't know if she was the victim of anything. She could have drowned accidentally, ran away...any number of things. Bottom line, I'm sick of this story and wish they would all disappear from our airwaves.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 08:04:27 AM EST
    From everything I've read, Natalee was 18. While young, she was not legally a minor, therefore, there was no injury to a minor or interference with custodial relations. As sorry as I feel for her parents, there is no evidence (except what her mother insists she knows) of a crime. Being the last person seen with someone does not automatically make them responsible for anything that happened afterwards. It seems this young man (17 - a minor) and his parents are as much victims of the mother's vendetta, which is proven and obvious, as Natalee is of the Van der Sloops, unproven and not so obvious.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 08:17:37 AM EST
    How many youg 18 year olds have been killed or maimed in Bushbags illegal war? I wish we spent have as much time discussing why they don't have the proper armor, Why they are still dieing after our Dear Leader pronounced Mission Accomplished and why are we still in Iraq!? We certainly have our priorities upside down don't we.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#12)
    by jondee on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 09:19:41 AM EST
    Personally, I wont be able to rest until the name of this pure, white, flower of American womanhood is unsullied and the Fox Network can resume its noble charge of protecting red-state virgins from the predations of decadent Old Europeans and the secular,humanist elites who coddle them.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 10:17:46 AM EST
    Joran needs a good lawyer like Joe T. A man who is the last to see a woman alive and gives a false statement to Law Enforcement in the initial stages of an investigation into a missing person report, should be charged with a crime. For whatever reason that Joran, and the brothers who are also involved in this case, lied-- either as murderers or as men who abandoned a female on a beach in the middle of the night to meet an unknown fate--those lies and the multiple, varying stories that have been offered since, are responsible for the suspicion that surrounds them. Suck it up boys. Not even a war where countless innocents are being killed can deprive us of our responsibility to speak out that every woman's life is worth the trouble of finding out by which man's hands she disappeared. I don't find it too burdensome to follow more than one news story at a time--state violence in Iraq and individual violence against women. There is even the possibility of seeing the connection between these two manifestations of violence. But maybe that's just called feminism.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#14)
    by libdevil on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 10:28:10 AM EST
    Is it common for civil complaints to allege things that couldn't possibly be known to the plaintiffs? Statements like "Only Joran...knows what became of Natlee." That's just conjecture. It's entirely possible that he doesn't have any idea what happened to her. It's also possible that some third party knows what happened to her. And paragraph 35, "The next hours of Natalee's young life were marked by torment, terror, and debasement." Dramatic, to be sure, but how on earth could they know?

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#15)
    by Dadler on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 10:53:52 AM EST
    While I'm sick of this case, too, I'm assuming the Holloway's are making their claims about their daughter's final hours based on the condition of her body and things inferred from this.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#16)
    by glanton on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 11:17:34 AM EST
    I don't find it too burdensome to follow more than one news story at a time--state violence in Iraq and individual violence against women.
    Me neither, PsychLaw, but that's not really what's happening with our media. If you were a space alien watching the news for a couple of months last fall, you would be compelled to conclude that the Holloway story was a much bigger deal than the Iraq war. Moreover, these stories, endless since Laci Peterson, have not been framed as some kind of a campaign highlighting violence against women. They have been titillating "whodunnits," featuring conventionally attractive women only. But then, we can complain all we want, but nothin's gonna change the fact that it's all gone paparazzi now. Stay alert, ans stay with Fox.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 11:45:41 AM EST
    While I'm sick of this case, too, I'm assuming the Holloway's are making their claims about their daughter's final hours based on the condition of her body and things inferred from this.
    What body would that be? Nothing whatsoever has been found of her, no hair, no bones, no nothing. This lawsuit is going to get thrown out on jurisdictional issues alone. The Holloway's own lawyer was on Dan Abrams show one night and couldn't give a logical reason as to why they're suing Joran in NY. You can't just pick a place to sue someone in, and I don't see how NY can stand up to any kind of jurisdictional test in this case. And it's really hard to take the suit seriously (unless you're a commentator on Fox) given the highly unprofessional and childish tone that the Holloway's attorney takes throughout the complaint.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#18)
    by Dadler on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 12:02:55 PM EST
    rojopelo521, Way to smack me back into reality. Dadler rightfully takes him LUMPS. Man did I chunk that one. Too much late night work, too little sleep, too few brain cells, synapses fried. Happens to the best of us. Or, like me, to the worst of us. Apologize for wasting your rant, my friend. Peace.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 12:31:16 PM EST
    Wow, I wonder who's paying these lawyers. They're suing in NY State court alleging violations of Alabama law for acts that took place solely in Aruba. They must know that there is no way this Complaint can withstand a Motion to Dismiss and that's why they loaded it up with all kinds of crap. It's just another publicity stunt by the mother.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#20)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 12:52:46 PM EST
    ...and the Fox Network can resume its noble charge of protecting red-state virgins from the predations of decadent Old Europeans and the secular,humanist elites who coddle them. Except for Denmark. They're OK, right?

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 01:07:09 PM EST
    Sorry, Dadler, I wasn't ranting at you, or at least I didn't mean to sound that way. I was ranting about the jurisdiction issue, that's just stupid, but not about your mixup!

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#22)
    by eniarku99 on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 02:11:18 PM EST
    1.) It is clear that the Holloways have been allowed a blank check to advance their own theories of the case without reciprocal time given to the accusees, including van der Sloots and the two young Aruban comrades he had. 2.)There are many missing persons cases just as perplexing, and with more evidence, than that of Ms. Holloway. It is not that the Holloways were victims, it is not the fact that the evidence was ambiguous but leading only in two directions, it is not the international nature of the case that has captured the media. Rather, the press was blessed with a ready-made story, a set of bereaved, media-savvy parents who are not camera shy, a victim who looked pristine, and a white audience that spends a large amount of time imagining that their white flower of innocence is more vulnerable than anyone else. Oh, yes, and a great vacation spot for reporters once they had finished the press briefings and tapings for the day, where no translators are needed because almost everyone speaks English, and a vacation spot so great that volume discounts are available ("Hey! Camera Crew! You don't have to sleep in the tents this time!"). 3.) None of that says that the young Ms. Holloway's death is either a matter of indifference or insignificant. No premature death is fair or good to parent, to child, to friends. Clearly, some of the right-wing wreckers want us to believe just that. But look at all the baggage they want us to accept along with their outflowing of compassion for this one and only one female: a.) Xenophobia directed toward the Dutch and Aruban criminal justice systems, and hence toward anything not American in origin; b.) implicitly, an indictment of the multicultural, multiethnic club scene, where Natalee met her end, and would not have died if only she would have stayed with her "own;" c.) that somehow, ignoring the legal rights of defendants would somehow have solved this case earlier, and that we should ignore them in other cases, as well.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#23)
    by jondee on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 05:51:00 AM EST
    Che - Denmark at its most conservative, still makes the U.S look like Chile under Pinochet.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#24)
    by jondee on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 07:22:55 AM EST
    ..with a little Salem Village thrown in for good measure.

    Re: Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up (none / 0) (#25)
    by cpinva on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 10:12:21 PM EST
    eniarku99, since there's no evidence that ms. holloway is dead, premature or not, your comment is irrelevant. that complaint reads, for the most part, like a raymond chandler potboiler, but with fewer facts supporting it. if this is the sort of thing "tort reform" was meant to discourage, i'd be first in line to vote for it. ms. holloway's mother is a sad case indeed, accusing anyone and everyone of nefarious acts in the disappearance of her daughter, with nothing of substance to support any of her allegations. perhaps a sedative and time well spent in a "rest home" are in order for her. dad seems to be being led around by the nose by ex-wifey, nodding, smiling and saying "yes dear" at every turn. i feel for ms. holloway's parents, as a parent myself. however, absent even an iota of evidence, including a body or some forensic material suggesting foul play, this is nothing more than a transparently desperate attempt to keep media attention focussed on the case.

    Joran van der Sloot Lawyers Up | 25 comments (25 topical)