omac
12-08-2007, 05:59 PM
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_7663709
Henry's attorney beats NFL odds
By Mike Klis The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 12/07/2007 06:12:30 PM MST
Harvey Steinberg is a pain to the NFL.
But he's our pain. And by ours, I mean not just the Broncos, but the Rockies, the Nuggets and Avalanche.
Over the years, whenever a high-profile Denver sports figure is standing humbly before your Honor, chances are it's Steinberg addressing the court. Clarence Kay, Pedro Astacio, Bill Romanowski and Travis Henry are among the grateful.
"When you represent athletes, what you learn is they never get treated the same as others," Steinberg said. "They always get treated more harshly. The reason they get treated more harshly is district attorneys are deathly afraid they are going to be accused of giving a professional athlete a break."
A Broncos player recently received a speeding ticket for going roughly 40 in a 30, a four-point violation. The rest of us get the standard plea offer to a 2-point violation, in return for quick payment. Not this Bronco.
"The D.A. said, "I can't handle it," " Steinberg said. ""He's a Denver Bronco. It has to be handled by a supervisor." '
When Steinberg got Henry cleared from a drug charge this past week, he didn't win because of a technicality or the star power of a Broncos running back. He won against almost impossible odds.
To appeal the commissioner's case that Henry flunked a marijuana test, Steinberg had to defend his client before a judge named Jeff Pash, the NFL's general counsel and executive vice president. Otherwise known as commissioner Roger Goodell's right hand man.
What. A. Joke.
Nevertheless, Steinberg so convincingly proved league negligence, Pash and Goodell could not in good conscience find Henry guilty.
"That was an amazing result, but he's had amazing result after amazing result," said Jeffrey Springer, Steinberg's law partner going on 24 years.
Steinberg has won acquittals for an anesthesiologist who fell asleep in the operating room and the child patient died, and for a shop teacher who had nearly $300,000 worth of school materials in his home. Steinberg makes enemies when he wins such cases, but he stays true to the soul of our judicial system. To wit: The innocent shall not be convicted.
"It's the tough cases, the cases where people want somebody hung by their thumbs, those are the cases that test the system," Steinberg said.
Wearing sneakers, sweats and a bed head, Steinberg is sitting in his sun room, overlooking his tennis and basketball courts, covered pool and trampolines. Aaron Steinberg, the 13-year-old twin brother of Arik and older brother of Rachel, popped his head in to ask if the guest needed anything to drink. A few minutes later, Harvey's wife walked in.
"'Did he tell you his parents were survivors of the Holocaust concentration camps and that English wasn't his first language?" Stephanie Steinberg said.
"Stop!" Harvey exclaimed.
Mom came from Poland, dad from Germany. Harvey was born in Denver, raised in Congress Park.
"Or how he used to collect eggs from a chicken farm and to this day he won't go get eggs for me at the grocery store?" Stephanie said.
Steinberg playfully asked his wife to busy herself elsewhere.
"It's a freak of nature that you are who you are," said Stephanie, who learned a thing or two about human-interest stories as a journalism minor at Metro State.
When a wife of 15 years can gush about her husband this way, it confirms no one, not even lawyers, should be stereotyped.
"'He knows how to connect with people," Springer said. "He's tried cases all over the country in front of rural juries and urban juries. Most lawyers aren't able to do that."
When the commissioner's office announced Henry was cleared last week, Steinberg was in Grand Rapids, Mich., defending a client accused of stealing millions. Soon after Steinberg's opening argument, the prosecutor was striking a deal for a misdemeanor.
"Right now he's not able to go to court because his head is so big, it won't fit through the doors," Springer said. "But he is the hardest working, most creative, most brilliant lawyer I've been around."
Doesn't Travis Henry know it.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com.
Henry's attorney beats NFL odds
By Mike Klis The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 12/07/2007 06:12:30 PM MST
Harvey Steinberg is a pain to the NFL.
But he's our pain. And by ours, I mean not just the Broncos, but the Rockies, the Nuggets and Avalanche.
Over the years, whenever a high-profile Denver sports figure is standing humbly before your Honor, chances are it's Steinberg addressing the court. Clarence Kay, Pedro Astacio, Bill Romanowski and Travis Henry are among the grateful.
"When you represent athletes, what you learn is they never get treated the same as others," Steinberg said. "They always get treated more harshly. The reason they get treated more harshly is district attorneys are deathly afraid they are going to be accused of giving a professional athlete a break."
A Broncos player recently received a speeding ticket for going roughly 40 in a 30, a four-point violation. The rest of us get the standard plea offer to a 2-point violation, in return for quick payment. Not this Bronco.
"The D.A. said, "I can't handle it," " Steinberg said. ""He's a Denver Bronco. It has to be handled by a supervisor." '
When Steinberg got Henry cleared from a drug charge this past week, he didn't win because of a technicality or the star power of a Broncos running back. He won against almost impossible odds.
To appeal the commissioner's case that Henry flunked a marijuana test, Steinberg had to defend his client before a judge named Jeff Pash, the NFL's general counsel and executive vice president. Otherwise known as commissioner Roger Goodell's right hand man.
What. A. Joke.
Nevertheless, Steinberg so convincingly proved league negligence, Pash and Goodell could not in good conscience find Henry guilty.
"That was an amazing result, but he's had amazing result after amazing result," said Jeffrey Springer, Steinberg's law partner going on 24 years.
Steinberg has won acquittals for an anesthesiologist who fell asleep in the operating room and the child patient died, and for a shop teacher who had nearly $300,000 worth of school materials in his home. Steinberg makes enemies when he wins such cases, but he stays true to the soul of our judicial system. To wit: The innocent shall not be convicted.
"It's the tough cases, the cases where people want somebody hung by their thumbs, those are the cases that test the system," Steinberg said.
Wearing sneakers, sweats and a bed head, Steinberg is sitting in his sun room, overlooking his tennis and basketball courts, covered pool and trampolines. Aaron Steinberg, the 13-year-old twin brother of Arik and older brother of Rachel, popped his head in to ask if the guest needed anything to drink. A few minutes later, Harvey's wife walked in.
"'Did he tell you his parents were survivors of the Holocaust concentration camps and that English wasn't his first language?" Stephanie Steinberg said.
"Stop!" Harvey exclaimed.
Mom came from Poland, dad from Germany. Harvey was born in Denver, raised in Congress Park.
"Or how he used to collect eggs from a chicken farm and to this day he won't go get eggs for me at the grocery store?" Stephanie said.
Steinberg playfully asked his wife to busy herself elsewhere.
"It's a freak of nature that you are who you are," said Stephanie, who learned a thing or two about human-interest stories as a journalism minor at Metro State.
When a wife of 15 years can gush about her husband this way, it confirms no one, not even lawyers, should be stereotyped.
"'He knows how to connect with people," Springer said. "He's tried cases all over the country in front of rural juries and urban juries. Most lawyers aren't able to do that."
When the commissioner's office announced Henry was cleared last week, Steinberg was in Grand Rapids, Mich., defending a client accused of stealing millions. Soon after Steinberg's opening argument, the prosecutor was striking a deal for a misdemeanor.
"Right now he's not able to go to court because his head is so big, it won't fit through the doors," Springer said. "But he is the hardest working, most creative, most brilliant lawyer I've been around."
Doesn't Travis Henry know it.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com.