[This post is part of a larger series of posts. See here for a fuller explanation.]
Previously: Part 5: The Effect of Kimberlin’s Lies.
So once I had the video, I decided to make another attempt to get the State of Maryland to concern itself with what Kimberlin had done to me. There was serious doubt among my circle of friends whether they would do anything, but as I said to them, “I can’t say they aren’t doing anything about him, until I give them a chance.”
So I filed for another Application for Statement of Charges, you can read the whole thing here but this is the main part (starting after the January 9, 2012 incident):
Mr. Kimberlin has subsequently [to the January 9 incident] claimed that I essentially beat him up. Many of these statements can be proven absolutely false by video evidence obtained from the Sheriff’s Office or other objective evidence. By that, I mean that you do not have to believe my word that he was lying; you can believe either the video evidence or the testimony of disinterested third parties.
On January 9, 2012, at 12:31 p.m. Mr. Kimberlin filed an Application for Statement of Charges with the Commissioner’s office. Bear in mind that Mr. Kimberlin later claimed to lose sight in one eye, and that he needed to be [seen] in the ER that evening, and yet his first action, rather than getting treatment, was to file charges.
Kimberlin stated in the Application that (in relevant part):
[Aaron Walker] attacked me physically while exiting the courtroom. He hit me on the shoulder and chest and pushed me, and grabbed my iPad away from me and refused to return it. Mr. Walker has been [page break] harassing me and stalking me online for months, and as we were exiting [the courthouse / Room 5/ Floor 9, he] said he was going to continue harassing me, and as we left the courtroom, he grabbed my iPad, hit me in the face, shoulder and chest and wrestled the iPad away from me. Several people witness [sic] this event and the police were immediately called. They got my iPad back and safely excorted me from the building. Mr. Walker tried to come at me several more times but was restrained.
A copy of that Application is attached as Exhibit B. The video evidence establishes that this is false. First, when viewing the video, any person can see that I did not “tr[y] to come at [Kimberlin] several more times” nor did any third person restrain me. Further it is implausible to claim that I struck him three times, pushed him and “wrestled” with him. As you may or may not know, there is a camera constantly pointing in that direction providing a constant feed, but the digital recordings are not constant. Instead the software extracts a “snapshot” from the camera at intervals of roughly 1.75 seconds, most likely to save space on the hard drive. To believe that I struck him three times (“in the face, shoulder and chest”), you would have to believe that I timed each action precisely between “snapshots” so that you not only don’t see the blow, but you don’t see any movement from me indicating that I was about to strike, or had just struck, and you don’t see any reaction from Brett Kimberlin in terms of being knocked by the blow or recovering from it. The same can be said of his allegations that I wrestled with him or pushed him; one would have to believe that both my actions and Mr. Kimberlin’s actions were timed perfectly so that the complete motion was missed by the “snapshots.”
He also applied for a peace order on the same day (January 9). In that petition for a peace order, he stated that:
Mr. Walker assaulted me while leaving the courtroom. He hit me in the face, chest, & shoulder and took my iPad, and threatened to harass me more.
A copy of that petition is attached as Exhibit C. We can see the same claim that I hit him in the face, chest and shoulder and it is equally, provably false here. After this he went for an ex parte hearing to obtain a temporary restraining order. After being sworn in, he stated under oath that everything in the petition was true, thus adding perjury to the charge of filing a false petition for a peace order. He also stated under oath that he was having trouble seeing out of his right eye.
Using that petition and his perjured testimony reaffirming the truthfulness of that petition, he obtained a temporary peace order against me. Using his false statements in his application for charges—as well as anything he might have said or presented to the State’s Attorney in person—he convinced the State’s Attorney office to file charges against me and to sustain them for two months.
On February 8, 2012, a final peace order hearing was held (after a continuance). In sworn testimony, Mr. Kimberlin stated that “He [Walker] decked me in the eye and wrestled with me.” Again the video evidence flatly contradicts this claim. Mr. Kimberlin was plainly never “decked”—that is knocked down by a punch, usually to the face. And at no time did any “wrestling” occur.
He also stated that at one point that:
A man that followed us out of the courtroom raced back into the courtroom and told two people that were working for Judge Rupp that he was attacking me and attacking me. They came out and told him to get off of me and they called the police. Nine police came up to the -- or, sheriffs came up there and separated him. He had my iPad in his hand at the time and refused to give it back.
The claim that anyone—courtroom staff or not—told me to get off of him is false, and I am confident that interviews with witnesses will verify this.
Later in the same hearing, he misrepresented his criminal record. Specifically he said: “I was charged with a crime 33 years ago. I was released from prison. I’ve done my time.” In fact, Kimberlin was charged—and convicted—of at least 35 separate crimes that I know of, over the course of five different trials. A claim that he was charged with a single “crime” is simply false.
And this wasn’t an isolated incident. He has repeatedly referred to his criminal past as though it was only one case, one charge. For instance he states at one point in the same hearing that that “he [Walker] takes what I have done and he throws this criminal charge of mine over and over and over in my face.” He has made the similar statements—falsely stating that he has only been convicted of one crime—throughout the case of Kimberlin v. Allen, although they were not made under oath. But I mention this to show that this was not a slip of the tongue but a deliberate pattern of deception.
At the same hearing, he produced photographs purporting to show his injuries and even medical records claiming serious trauma to his eye and a cracked rib. These were necessarily fakes and proof that Mr. Kimberlin was actively fabricating evidence in an effort to frame me.
Finally, there was another peace order hearing on April 11, 2012 in the Circuit Court, a de novo appeal. I do not have a copy of the transcript yet, but I can state from memory that he repeated his lie, under oath, that I struck him repeatedly and that I essentially beat him up. Remarkably he stated under oath that he believed that the video was consistent with these statements.
He also admitted again on April 11 that he took a photograph of me in the courthouse and he offered no valid defense to this action.
As I said, the video demonstrates that Kimberlin has repeatedly lied about the incident. I have a copy of it, and I will gladly make a copy of it for you. What it shows is consistent with only my account. While it doesn’t capture every movement and every moment, several things are absolutely clear from it:
1. I did not knock him down. Not once. So his statement on February 8, 2012 that I “decked” him is clearly false.
2. His statement in his application for charges that “Mr. Walker tried to come at me several more times but was restrained” is false. No third party ever physically restrained me.
3. His claims that I repeatedly struck him, pushed him, wrestled with him, etc. are implausible. One would have to believe that each blow was struck in perfect timing with the recording equipment and that Mr. Kimberlin recovered each time before the next “picture,” because there was no sign of either movement—my alleged striking him, or his reaction to being struck. The same can be said for his allegations of pushing and wrestling. The only time when it was at all possible, according to this objective evidence, for Mr. Kimberlin to have been struck was when I first took the iPad from him. Of course I didn’t strike Mr. Kimberlin, but speaking objectively that is the only moment where a third party would believe it was even possible that I might have struck him in the video feed.
In addition to that, it would not be difficult to locate the persons who were there that day and ask if any of them told me to “get off of me [Kimberlin]” as he alleged on February 8 in perjured testimony.
In summary I believe that Mr. Kimberlin:
1. Made false statements to law enforcement officers in violation of Md. Criminal Law Code § 9-501 by claiming he did not take a photograph of me when in fact he did.
2. Filed a false petition for a peace order in violation of Md. Courts And Judicial Proceedings Code § 3-1503.1.
3. Made false statements on his application for charges, in violation of Md. Criminal Law Code § 9-503.
4. Perjured himself on January 9, 2012, by falsely stating under oath that the contents of his petition for a peace order was true in violation of Md. Criminal Law Code § 9-101.
5. Perjured himself on February 8, 2012 by numerous false statements outlined above.
6. Perjured himself on April 11, 2012 by claiming essentially that I beat him up, under oath.
But there is a reason to charge him that is more compelling than that outline. Mr. Kimberlin set out to frame me for a crime I did not commit. This convicted document forger produced false photographs and false medical records to lend his claims verisimilitude. In doing so, he has tricked the State’s Attorney Office into being an instrument of oppression over me. Since these charges were filed against me, I have lost my job and have been unable to obtain new employment. At a time when my finances took a serious hit, I was also required to hire counsel to defend against these charges and it cost me about $7,000. Yes, in theory I might be able to recover from Mr. Kimberlin, except that Mr. Kimberlin has a long history of evading judgments against him.
As a friend of mine said, Brett Kimberlin is about to figure out that doing this is either a really good idea, or a really bad one. If he is not prosecuted for this blatant and evil attempt to frame me, then you will be telling him that the laws against perjury—and other false statements—are meaningless. And you will be telling him that all he has to do is falsely claim another person has committed a crime against him, and the State’s Attorney will put that person through hell. The State’s Attorney should be offended that Mr. Kimberlin has manipulated this office in this fashion and it should be eager to see Mr. Kimberlin suffer consequences for his conduct.
So that is my second criminal complaint (the exhibits are omitted from the scan, but frankly you know by now what each of them are).
The following week I did a follow up visit at the State’s attorney’s office, where I was asked to fill out some forms. To accommodate my dysgraphia—it makes it hard to write by hand but doesn’t affect my typing skills—I typed it out manually on my computer in their waiting area and printed it out there. I knew I would have to do something like this from the last time I filed charges with them, so I had a lot of it already written out which I could copy and paste, but I had to do a lot of the typing right then and there. So it was not the most ideal conditions and there are some typos and a lot of it is simply repetitious. But you can read the document, here.
Well, I found out on May 1, 2012 that they had dropped the charges. It was frankly the last straw with me and led to my decision to go public and write this post. The next day I received a rare personal letter from the State’s Attorney’s Office. I will block out the name of the author (it is the same guy who also dropped the previous charges I filed, but not the same woman who dropped the charges against me), but otherwise I will let it speak for itself:
I have written this man an email in return. This is the body of the email:
Mr. [omitted],
I received your letter of April 25, 2012 and respectfully I would like to correct some factual misconceptions in it. First, you write that “Judge Everngam apparently credited Mr. Kimberlin’s testimony and, consequently, extended the peace order against you until August 8, 2012.” That is true, but incomplete. First that hearing occurred before I received a copy of the video surveillance of the incident on January 9, 2012. After that hearing, I filed an appeal and received a trial de novo in Circuit Court (case number 8444D), and this time we had the video evidence. After the judge saw that video, he plainly concluded that all I had done was what I had forthrightly said I had done from the beginning: I took his iPad from him. He then found that Kimberlin failed in the first instance to even meet his burden—without considering any evidence or arguments that the defense had to offer—and that peace order was lifted. I just got a copy of that transcript yesterday, and am attaching a copy to this email for your convenience.
That misunderstanding may have also led you to the incorrect legal conclusion that the Peace Order is presently active. Of course in the name of full disclosure Kimberlin has appealed the denial of a peace order but bluntly his appeal has zero chance of succeeding as a matter of law. I will be happy to illuminate that point for you if you consider that to be important, but the short answer is that Kimberlin is challenging the vitality of centuries-old rules of evidence.
You also seem to believe that this is some kind of mere civil “spat.” But even a normal “spat” justifies the involvement of law enforcement when they do not respect the bounds of the law. So ordinarily a husband and a wife arguing is not a matter of your office’s concern however loudly and angrily they argue. But if one spouse begins to batter the other, it becomes a matter of state involvement. And it doesn’t matter who was right or wrong in the underlying argument. You are absolutely not allowed to hit the other (indeed you are not allowed to hit anyone, except in self-defense). That is when a mere domestic dispute becomes rightfully the concern of the state.
And maybe in an ordinary civil case, you would prefer not to get involved. I can appreciate that. But what Kimberlin did went far outside of what is acceptable behavior in any civil dispute.
The man attempted to frame me for a crime. He produced false medical records and false photographs and used that evidence to manipulate your office into depriving me of my freedom—up to ten years! And the way you prosecute a man for trying to frame another is by prosecuting him for his false statements. That is what I am asking you to do.
He did this because I briefly represented a man he was suing, and because I dared to tell the truth about his deplorable criminal record and his misconduct in court. When I told the Court and I told the world that I believed he committed perjury on November 14, he threatened to file criminal charges unless I silenced myself. That is, he tried to intimidate a person from exercising their God-given right of Freedom of Expression. And when I didn’t buckle to that pressure he did exactly as he promised—he filed false criminal charges against me.
And if you look at the video and read my criminal complaint—the 5-6 typed out pages I attached to the application for charges—you will see absolute proof that he did indeed lie under oath and that he filed a false police report. I would ask you to call up Mr. Kimberlin and ask him to tell you the exact minute and second in which I “decked” him, or exactly when the sheriff’s deputies “separated” us, or when exactly I was supposedly coming at him over and over and restrained by those deputies. Those are all things Kimberlin has claimed under oath and the video evidence proves to be absolutely false.
Indeed, on that disk I gave to Ms. Hull, I included a video entitled “Kimberlin Presentation02.wmv.” It is crudely made (because I am a lawyer and not a videographer), but I think it is effective in juxtaposing what the video shows of the incident with what Kimberlin said about it. I challenge any person to watch that video and conclude that Brett Kimberlin did not lie repeatedly about the incident of January 9, 2012. As we speak a friend of mine who is a professional video editor is creating a better version of it for release to the general public.
And let me say something about the last complaint. When Kimberlin first filed these charges against me I came to the State’s Attorneys office in the Circuit Court building and asked to speak with someone about the charges. I knew from the application for charges he filed that what he said was objectively false. And I wanted to make sure you knew about the character of Brett Kimberlin and by comparison my clean criminal record. But your office refused to speak to me. I don’t mean you specifically, but the whole office as a matter of policy apparently won’t speak with people they are charging with a crime.
So I had two goals when I filed the first set of charges against him—and you will note that what I brought to the commissioner was actually three charges against Kimberlin: extortion (threatening to file false criminal charges), filing false criminal charges and for what I believed was perjury on November 14, 2011. The first goal was I simply believed that he did commit those crimes against me. But I also hoped that it would force your office to finally talk to me, to get my side of the story, and start to see that Brett Kimberlin is a man not to be trusted. Because that was what was so frustrating to me: nobody was asking for my side of the story. I could have told you from the beginning that there were easily verifiable lies in the application for charges he filed against me, even before I learned there was video evidence. And perhaps if your office had simply spoken to me, we could have avoided the disastrous personal consequences I have suffered because Kimberlin tricked your office into filing charges against me and pursuing them for almost two months.
This is not a simple spat. The man tried to frame me for a crime and in the process tricked your office into inflicting harm upon me for his sick motives. And I have done nothing to him but briefly provide legal advice to someone he hated, and to tell the truth about his deplorable past and his misconduct in court.
And every day I face the risk that he might do this to me again. I assume you will never let that happen in Mongomery County again because I assume you are a conscientious public servant. But what assurance would I have that Brett Kimberlin won’t claim I beat him up in Anne Arundel or Howard County? And what can you do to protect a third party who might not even know about this history? This man has to be taught that there are consequences to his actions and the world has to be shown—in the form of a conviction—that Kimberlin is known to frame others.
So with that in mind, I respectfully ask that you work with me to reinstate the charges against Kimberlin. An injustice was done to me, and to some extent I will never get back what was taken from me. But you can at least give me justice.
Respectfully,
Aaron J. Walker, Esq.
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I am curious as to how he got fraudulent documents introduced as to his injuries. He was unable to introduce evidence of what you had posted online because they could not verify it was you who posted it. How could he introduce medical documents without some verification of their authenticity? You might have pursued that angle by attempting to contact the doctors or institutions he was claiming produced them and getting them to avow as to their authenticity.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how do the prosecutors press charges without ever talking to both sides in a case? Was that all done by police? Was any evidence even gathered? Did they make no effort to authenticate the evidence?