ORLANDO, Fla. – Minutes after a jury convicted a political consultant of paying a bribe to former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, a defense attorney improperly approached jurors outside the federal courthouse and questioned them about their verdict, according to the judge who presided over the trial.
Michael Shirley was convicted Thursday of honest services fraud and conspiracy after federal prosecutors convinced jurors that the consultant paid Greenberg a $6,000 kickback in 2017 in exchange for maintaining a lucrative contract with the tax collector’s office.
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Shirley faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 31.
Shirley was represented by Dr. Gavin Clarkson, a Texas attorney who joined Shirley’s Orlando-based lawyers shortly before the trial began.
“It has come to the Court’s attention that approximately 20-30 minutes after the jury was excused, Dr. Clarkson, accompanied by his client Michael Shirley, approached a group of jurors in the parking lot used by visitors to the courthouse and inquired as to why they had convicted his client,” U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell wrote in a court order filed Tuesday. “The jurors declined to speak with him.”
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According to Presnell, Clarkson’s alleged actions violated a local federal court rule prohibiting lawyers from communicating with jurors during or after a trial without the court’s permission.
Clarkson also allegedly violated a Florida Bar rule that prohibits attorneys from initiating communication with jurors after their dismissal, except under limited circumstances.
Presnell has ordered the Texas lawyer to explain in writing within 10 days why the court should not revoke his permission to continue serving as an attorney in Shirley’s case.
Clarkson did not immediately respond to an email and a voicemail from News 6 offering him the opportunity to comment.
In the Southern District of Texas, where Clarkson’s law office is located, local federal court rules do not specifically prohibit attorneys from speaking with jurors. Instead, lawyers are required to seek the court’s permission to communicate with jurors to obtain evidence of jury misconduct.
Texas Bar rules prohibit attorneys from making comments to jurors after their discharge from a case “that are calculated merely to harass or embarrass the juror or to influence his actions in future jury service.”
According to Presnell, Clarkson agreed to comply with the rules of the Middle District of Florida when he originally sought the court’s permission to appear as Shirley’s attorney in an Orlando federal courtroom.
Clarkson was joined by two Orlando-based criminal defense attorneys during Shirley’s trial.
Those Florida attorneys, Warren Lindsey and Ashley Parker, filed court papers Monday seeking the court’s permission to withdraw from Shirley’s case. Their requests did not specify a reason.
Shirley submitted paperwork indicating he consented to the withdrawal of Lindsey and Parker and wished to proceed with Clarkson as his attorney. A judge has not yet approved the request.
It was not immediately clear from court records who might represent Shirley at his sentencing in October if Presnell revokes Clarkson’s ability to appear as Shirley’s lawyer.
Clarkson, who unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary for New Mexico’s U.S. Senate seat in 2020, paid Shirley’s political consulting company more than $155,000 during his campaign, federal campaign finance records show.
Shirley’s company, Pinpoint Action LLC, was paid about $5,000 as part of Clarkson’s unsuccessful run for a New Mexico Congressional seat in 2018, according to campaign finance records.
That same year, records show Shirley contributed $3,000 to Clarkson’s congressional campaign.
Shirley’s company was providing consulting services to Clarkson’s 2018 campaign at the same time Shirley was under contract with the Seminole County tax collector’s office, records show.
Federal prosecutors said Greenberg paid Shirley $634,000 in taxpayer money over three years despite the consultant doing little work for Greenberg’s office.
Greenberg is serving an 11-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking and other offenses.
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