Legal News

Lawyer to Spend 14th Consecutive Xmas in Jail Over Contempt Charge

By Dan Slater

H. Beatty Chadwick, third from right, and his wife, Bobbie, center, smile at a high society dinner in Philadelphia in 1988. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Bobbie Chadwick)

As Christmas approaches, a Loyal LB Reader suggested we check in on H. Beatty Chadwick, the lawyer who will be spending his 14th Christmas in a row behind bars. It’s a good tip. Chadwick was locked up for contempt of court for his failure to cough up $2.5 million in a 1994 divorce proceeding. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chadwick, 72, who’s battling cancer, has set a U.S. record for time served over a contempt charge.

From the Inquirer:

After a hearing yesterday, Delaware County Court President Judge Joseph P. Cronin Jr. turned down Chadwick’s latest request for Christmas furlough, declaring him “a significant risk of flight.”

Had the court let him out for Christmas, Chadwick could have cut off his electronic-monitoring bracelet and used his money and contacts to fly off in a helicopter, his ex-wife’s attorney, Albert Momjian, said.

“He is a devious person,” Momjian contended.

Chadwick’s lawyer, Michael J. Malloy . . . said the idea of a helicopter’s waiting to whisk his client off was ludicrous.

“At this point, everything about this case is irrational,” Malloy said in an interview with the Inquirer.

“We’re one step away from The X-Files at this point. . . . He’s going to beam himself to another dimension.”

Chadwick’s ex-wife, Bobbie Applegate, reportedly met Chadwick when he was a lawyer with I.U. International Corp., parent company of two trucking agencies. Throughout his imprisonment, Chadwick’s story has not changed. He says he doesn’t have the money to pay the $2.5 million settlement because of a bad overseas investment, according to the Inquirer.

“I can’t change the facts that occurred, and maybe it sounded crazy at the time,” he told the newspaper. “Time really should mend those kind of things. And if they say maybe they didn’t believe me at the time, wouldn’t 14 years make a difference? It doesn’t make any difference whether they believe me or not.”

For more on Chadwick, go to the Free H. Beatty Chadwick blog.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).