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Drunk Lawyer Who Groped Cabbie Convicted of Criminal Mischief

By Mark Wilson, Esq. on January 21, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

I don't even know where to start. Maybe at the end? On January 16, Louisiana lawyer Jennifer Gaubert was convicted of misdemeanor criminal mischief for filing a false police report.

Gaubert is scheduled to be sentenced on February 13 and faces up to six months in jail -- quite a difference from the felony she could have been convicted of. Let's all take a trip down memory lane and remember how we got here...

Just Wait for the M. Night Shyamalan Twist

It all started back in 2012, when a very drunk Gaubert took a cab ride home. She claimed that cab driver Hervey Farrell shot a cell phone video underneath her skirt without her permission, then sent an email to her lawyer Brigid Collins, threatening to release the video if Gaubert didn't pay him $1,000. Gaubert told police, who arrested Farrell on suspicion of voyeurism and extortion.

But why would Farrell send an extortion letter to Gaubert's lawyer? Collins herself answered that one, testifying that she had never received an extortion email, per se. What she did receive was a copy of the video along with a $60,000 request to settle a civil suit for battery.

Whoops! Turns out the "extortion" was actually a settlement offer, although in practice it is sometimes hard to tell the difference. In his defense, Farrell contended that Gaubert actually came on to him in the cab and grabbed his genitals. It's a bit of a he-said-she-said, but apparently police were convinced: After they arrested Farrell back in 2013, they held him for 30 hours before releasing him because of inconsistencies in Gaubert's story.

That's a Lot of Litigation

This is Gaubert's second criminal loss in the case. Back in April, she was convicted of simple battery for touching Farrell's genitals. She also stopped hosting her local radio show, "Law out Loud."

Farrell is fighting back too: The charges led to a news story about him, along with his picture, which in turn led to him losing his taxicab license while the taxicab commission investigated him. Farrell is suing the city for failing to adequately investigate Gaubert's claims before arresting him.

Maybe those substance-abuse CLEs we have to go through are a good idea, after all. (Which reminds us: We haven't even gotten to the state bar discipline part of the show.)

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