Defendant's Lawyer Calls Him Toast To Prosecutor

Defense lawyer admits to throwing client under the bus because she believed him guilty and because his alleged victim was underage


The lawyer's photo - a mock up to protect the guilty

April 8, 2011

Jeffrey Gioglio (unfortunate name under the circumstances) had his conviction reversed by a Michigan Appeals Court when his own lawyer bragged to the prosecutor that she willfully had provided her client ineffective defense, after the guilty verdict.

The defense lawyers work was so inept that the prosecutor joined in the appeal of the guilty verdict that would have sent Gioglio to prison for a minimum of 6 years.

Gioglio’s lawyer, Susan Prentice-Sao, did not deliver an opening statement, did not present any evidence, and did not cross-examine the alleged victim, a relative of Gioglio's who accused him of sexual contact when she was 6 years old. Nor did Prentice-Sao raise a hearsay objection when a gym teacher testified about other students' reports of the alleged victim's claims of rape, hearsay on hearsay.

The prosecutor. Christine Bourgeois, wrote the court administrator after the verdict. Bourgeois said Prentice-Sao had confided in her Gioglio had admitted guilt and that she could not bring herself to question a child sexual abuse victim. After sentencing, Bourgeois said, Prentice-Sao “greeted me with a big smile, a thumb’s-up, and the statement, ‘He’s toast!’"

Prentice-Sao defended her representation in a response to the court administrator and in a hearing on a motion for a new trial made by a new defense attorney. She wrote that she told Bourgeois she did not plan to cross-examine the girl so the prosecutor would not “go overboard preparing her for trial.” She also said she told Bourgeois that Gioglio had made some admissions, but it was in the course of plea negotiations. And she said she did not cross-examine the alleged victim because she did not want to alienate jurors and she feared new details would bring more serious charges for her client. She claimed not to remember the toast comment.