Former Western Washington Lawyer Accused of Stabbing Rival Lawyer

Sara Jean Inexperienced / The Seattle Instances

A former Renton legal protection legal professional nursed a yearslong grudge towards seven attorneys and judges he blamed for ruining his repute and authorized profession, then ambushed one of many attorneys, stabbing him within the again, King County prosecutors say.

Lee Rousso self-published a ebook in 2021, years after his legislation license was suspended, detailing perceived wrongs towards him, together with homicidal fantasies involving the group of seven, who he known as the “Bar Card Lynch Mob,” court docket data present.

The principle goal of Rousso’s ire was a 64-year-old longtime Seattle legal protection legal professional, who he is accused of stabbing within the again Dec. 13 earlier than fleeing to California, in response to a first-degree assault cost filed Thursday. Pasadena police took Rousso, additionally 64, into custody a few hours after a warrant was issued for his arrest, then booked him into the Los Angeles County Jail, data present.

As soon as Rousso is introduced again to Washington, prosecutors have requested that he be held in lieu of $5 million bail.

The seven attorneys and judges, “focused on account of their work within the legal justice system, have watched with vital concern because the defendant’s anger has elevated, moderately than dissipated, with the passage of time,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Gary Ernsdorff wrote in charging papers.

“His rage covers all seven however is primarily centered on the sufferer on this case,” Ernsdorff wrote, referencing Rousso’s ebook.

Ernsdorff wrote in charging papers that as Rousso’s life crumbled — he shuttered his legislation apply, bought his household residence and seems to be unemployed — he “crossed the road from fantasy to actuality.”

Ernsdorff famous in charging papers that the wounded legal professional possible prevented a extra severe or deadly damage as a result of he was sporting a backpack when he was attacked.

A lady residing in Seattle’s Central District known as 911 the night of Dec. 13, reporting her neighbor had been stabbed exterior his home and that his assailant had pushed away in a blue automotive, in response to charging papers.

Seattle police discovered the wounded man was a legal protection legal professional who had pushed residence from his downtown legislation workplace and observed a person in a parked automotive simply north of his home, say the costs.

Because the legal professional walked to his home, he felt a blow to his again, yelled for assist, and watched the person he had seen get again into his automotive and drive away, the costs say.

The legal professional — who was capable of present the primary three letters of the automotive’s license plate quantity — realized he had been stabbed after he felt liquid on his again, eliminated the backpack he was sporting and noticed a “Rambo-like” knife on the bottom, in response to the costs. Whereas at Harborview Medical Middle, the legal professional instructed police he suspected his assailant could have been Rousso, the costs say.

Roughly 10 years earlier, whereas representing a person interesting a legal conviction, the legal professional found that Rousso, the person’s trial legal professional, hadn’t reviewed some proof within the authentic case, in response to the costs. Consequently, the legal professional claimed Rousso had offered ineffective counsel, the costs say.

Rousso later sued the legal professional and one other lawyer concerned within the appeals case for defamation, claiming they’d ruined his repute, in response to the costs. The defamation case was later dismissed, and Rousso was ordered to pay the opposite attorneys’ authorized charges.

After the stabbing, the injured legal professional contacted the opposite legal professional sued by Rousso to inform her in regards to the incident, the costs say. The lady and her husband later instructed police they and their neighbors had additionally seen a suspicious blue automotive parked exterior their Ballard home within the days earlier than the opposite legal professional was stabbed, say the costs.

Witness interviews, cellphone data, employment data from Rousso’s earlier work as an Uber driver, and purchases made on his state-issued digital advantages switch card positioned him close to each attorneys’ homes and helped police construct a legal case towards him, in response to the costs.

The 41-page charging doc consists of excerpts from Rousso’s ebook, quoting him as saying he is sure he might kill the male legal professional and get away with it and that he had desires of disfiguring the feminine legal professional.