Thursday, September 02, 2010

Anne Bremner’s Drunk Driving Mea Culpa: Now One For Meredith’s Friends And Especially Her Family?

Posted by Peter Quennell

Anne Bremner rather classily pleaded guilty today to drunk driving, in this King5 video above and this Seattle PI story.

The only victim in this incident, very fortunately, was Anne Bremner’s pride and self-image. No actual person got hurt.

Very different from the strident campaign she has run on TV and via her creation, the now-hapless Friends of Amanda. That misguided effort over two-plus years which misled so many and bred so much false hope caused a lot of real hurt in England and Italy.

The much-praised Massei sentencing report has now methodically shot down every one of her claims, and it shows how competent the investigation really was and how fair Amanda Knox’s trial and verdict.

There is pretty well zero chance of the verdict being overturned on appeal. Amanda Knox’s lawyers and Knox herself now seem to realize this.

How nice then if, while Anne Bremner is in an apologizing mood, she offers a similarly classy mea culpa to the Italian authorities. And to Meredith’s many friends, who have had a very tough two-plus years.

And especially to Meredith’s poor family.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 09/02/10 at 04:17 AM in Hoaxers from 2007More hoaxers

Comments

Our poster Hopeful’s excellent comment, transposed from below a previous post on this case.

*********************

Anne Bremner did plead guilty to DUI and the video showed her standing between 2 stalwart lawyers as she apologized and promised not to drink and drive again. She was shaking at one point and tearful, very close to breaking down.

She warned others about the dangers of driving drunk or buzzed. She said she had spent 2 days in jail. She sounded almost grateful to be given jailtime so she could “be on the other side” and realize what inmates go through. I got the sense she felt bad about having taken prison sentences lightly in her duties as a prosecutor.

She told the judge she’d had many sleepless nights since her DUI charge and her car accident, and kept warning others of the lifelong consequences of drunk driving.

Her last words to the judge were to the effect that the next time I stand before you I will be standing here as a lawyer. Clearly a return to her former dignity was on her mind. She humbled herself as much as possible given her stature, and I think she did right to confess she was drunk and not “brain injured.”

I hope she gets her peace back. She seemed really really shaken, frightened, and still struggling to retain her professional demeanor, it was almost pitiful and it was obvious she was close to cracking up in the video.

She’s still a rather proud peacock, but now a more loveable one, and she did try to come down a notch, she really did. She has my respect for doing the right thing.

By TJMK Main Poster Hopeful

Posted by Peter Quennell on 09/02/10 at 05:46 AM | #

Hi Peter,

It will be interesting to see if King County Judge Michael Heavey can learn any lessons from Anne Bremner’s DUI debacle.

Washington State Judicial Commission disciplinary panel is currently investigating Judge Heavey’s alleged abuse of office, after it became known that he lobbied on behalf of Amanda Knox.

Will King County Judge Michael Heavey also steer away from not backing down, or will he continue to drive recklessly towards the commission who ultimately will be deciding his fate?

Posted by True North on 09/02/10 at 06:15 AM | #

By Storm Roberts (Innai)

Good for her.  Realising that her actions could have had the worst possible effect and taking responsibility is the best thing she could do - both for herself and society.  Hopefully she heeds her own warnings and others do too. 

Maybe this has been some kind of “wake up call” - a serious jolt that has made her re-evaluate certain aspects of her life - hopefully she will make the most of this (not good) situation and come out the otherside a better person.

Posted by Nolongeramember on 09/02/10 at 09:28 AM | #

If one looks at the string of drinking incidents that were recorded by the authorities, then it becomes abundantly clear that this latest incident is not the one that will change her life in any way significantly. The way she handled her affairs post-arrest indicates contempt and using all legal resources at her disposal to worm her way out of trouble. She realized that she didn’t have a leg to stand on (pardon the intentional pun) and that she needed to retreat as best she could to live to fight another day. Many of us have done stupid things in the past and hopefully we mature and become more responsible. However, I suspect Anne Bremner will slide backwards again. I hope nobody gets hurt.

Posted by Terence on 09/02/10 at 10:46 AM | #

After insisting on her innocence since June 4th, it seems odd that she would plead guilty now. Did she cut some kind of deal to keep her past DUI record under wraps? I hope that the whole shebang is brought to the light, as it should have been from the beginning, and I hope that if Judge Heavey’s influence is what kept it hidden that he is now brought into the light, as well.  People who are sworn to uphold the law should set a decent example.  I think she and Heavey both have some atonements coming to them…...

Posted by Mo-in-Mass.,USA on 09/02/10 at 01:38 PM | #

She was wrong in her previous attempts to deny responsibility and conceal records from public view; she should have expected to be treated the same as any other citizen.  However her contrition and remorse here does seem genuine and she appears to have really been affected by her time in jail. I had nothing but contempt of her words and actions in relation to FOA and criticism of the Italians, but she does deserve some credit for her apparent attonment in this video.

Posted by Lola on 09/02/10 at 02:45 PM | #

I have no doubt that she is sorry for her lies about this incident, however, if she has as long a record of drunken driving as has been found, wasn’t she sorry any of those times? 

I can’t help feeling that this plea of guilty was due to her being backed into a corner by those that could expose her past misdeeds, in exchange for keeping the prior records out of public view, and that though she is sorry for her errant ways, that she may be more sorry that she got caught.  She has apparently been living in a glass house for a long, long time.  Karma takes a dim view of hypocrisy.

Posted by Mo-in-Mass.,USA on 09/03/10 at 04:03 AM | #

The radio interview she gave after her court appearance made me distrustful of her real motives once again.

Excerpt from the AB interview:
“She says she was also in a traffic accident that night.“That coupled with having a minor amount of alcohol was a perfect storm which led to a situation where I believe the police officer honestly believed I was impaired”

The audio is available at KIRO

Posted by cath on 09/03/10 at 05:17 AM | #

There is absolutely no chance whatsoever of an apology to the family of Meredith Kercher, or Italy for that matter.

Anne Bremner is only sorry for herself here and I in no way commend her for owning up and saying sorry, my reason being I think her ‘apology’ is shallow and insincere.

It would be reasonable to think that her sudden about turn - in which she overly aggressively attacked the police, used every legal insider contact she had in an attempt to suppress information of her arrest, accusing the police of manhandling her and making up such a laughable story of being the victim of a 50 mph hit and run accident (was the car that hit you driven by a bushy haired stranger Anne?)thus resulting in her suffering a brain injury that made her appear drunk - and to top it all producing a doctor who stated that she did indeed have a brain injury (where are you now Dr. Lyndsay?) was, in my opinion due to Judge Michael Heavey stepping in and telling her to own up as it is putting the spotlight on him too, soemthing he doesn’t need at the moment.

It is very easy to put two and two together when looking at the persistent and very long record of Anne Bremner’s previous DUI offences - and how they came to a sudden stop when her buddy, Judge Michael Heavey took office in the year 2000.
Judge Michael Heavey does not want any more light shone on him due to the investigation of abuse of office concerning the Amanda Knox case already in progress.
This is of course speculation on my part but well worth looking intoas the two very same people above - Anne Bremner and Judge Michael Heavey, have been trying to undermine (with any skullduggery at their disposal - just like Bremners recent DUI charge) the case against Amanda Knox who we all know has been found guilty and convicted and jailed for the brutal murder of Meredith Kercher.

Posted by Black Dog on 09/03/10 at 09:24 AM | #

By Storm Roberts (Innai)

That quote Cath has posted above from the AB interview certainly doesn’t come across as particularly sorrowful or apologetic.  It sounds like passing the buck.

Posted by Nolongeramember on 09/03/10 at 01:04 PM | #

I think Black Dog nailed it perfectly.  Being backed into a corner made Anne Bremner tell the truth.  Wouldn’t it be nice now if AK or RS decided to reduce their sentences by finally coming forward with the truth, too? And I feel that EVERYONE on the AK side of the fence owes the Kerchers an apology.

Posted by Mo-in-Mass.,USA on 09/03/10 at 01:39 PM | #

I am glad this has happened to Anne Bremner. Her antics have been an outrage , especially when she tried to defend Amanda against the charges filed in the Massei report , which accused her of opening the door to Rudy Guede. It was way onder the belt when she said that it was Meredith who might have openened the door instead.She was basically trampling on the poor victim´s grave. Btw she looks loke an ageing Barbie doll, distasteful.

Posted by aethelred23 on 09/03/10 at 09:17 PM | #

9/3/10
cath, thanks. Whoa baby, that KIRO interview set me straight about Anne Bremner. On the radio, she took back everything she’d said to the judge! She still implies the policeman got it wrong, that she was not really impaired, and blames it on lithium levels and back to the “brain injury” fiction. Wow, a true lawyer, talking out of 4 sides of her mouth.

She took back her apology. She has returned to justifying herself, so I take back my compliments about her “doing the right thing”.

Posted by Hopeful on 09/03/10 at 10:00 PM | #

Re: Bremner’s Kiro interview.
I don’t know if it’s me dear listeners, but she sounds like she’s had a couple of scoops.

Posted by Black Dog on 09/03/10 at 10:39 PM | #

Hopeful,

‘took back her apology’?  On tape said she was ‘wrong, made a mistake ... I apologise ... I stand by what I said (to the judge)’.

Posted by Lola on 09/04/10 at 12:15 AM | #

@Lola

Hopeful said AB “took back everything she’d said to the judge!”, which she did beginning at 0:25 of her radio interview.

Posted by cath on 09/04/10 at 01:01 AM | #

cont. @Lola
sorry for 2 posts (pushed the submit button too fast) -
I forgot to add, that this act equals taking back her apology. This is what I understand Hopeful meant.

Posted by cath on 09/04/10 at 01:07 AM | #

Hi Black Dog,

I agree with you completely. Anne Bremner tried every trick in the book to escape justice. When she realised that she wasn’t going to get away with her crime, she decided to plead guilty and apologise.

I listened to her two 911 calls. She was completely intoxicated. She didn’t know where she was and she was incapable of holding an intelligible conversation.

I firmly believe she should be suspended for lying repeatedly to the court, the media and the public, endangering the lives of others and making a false and malicious accusation against the arresting officer.

She has proved herself to be calculating liar with twisted and warped sense of justice. As the head of the Friends of Amanda, she certainly epitomises the group.

Posted by The Machine on 09/05/10 at 08:05 PM | #

Post A Comment

Smileys



Where next:

Click here to return to The Top Of The Front Page

Or to next entry In The Seattle Media The Anne Bremner Case Continues To Reverberate

Or to previous entry Is The Campaign That Ranted Against Italy For So Long Now Fearing An Italian-American Backlash?