Tampa lawyer did a lousy job, former client's lawsuit says

A man who was set free after serving almost four years in prison says his former lawyer did not represent him well in a Dunedin battery case.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 24, 2001

CLEARWATER -- A man who served years in prison before being set free last month is suing the attorney who represented him when he was convicted in 1996.

Cable Ridenour, who won a new trial after an appeals court ruled that his attorney did not represent him effectively, filed the lawsuit in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court against attorney Michael Gonzalez.

Gonzalez's inadequate legal counsel -- including failing to subpoena significant witnesses, present evidence and object to improper questions -- led to Ridenour's 15-year prison sentence, the lawsuit says.

Ridenour, who later hired Clearwater lawyer Jeff Brown and was granted a new trial, said he acted in self-defense when he stabbed four people during a brawl with several people at bar called 1470 West. By the time the second jury found him not guilty last month of felony aggravated battery, he had spent three years and eight months in prison.

Ridenour lived in Alaska but grew up in Dunedin and was visiting family at the time of the brawl. He remains in Dunedin, searching for a job and enough money to return to Alaska.

"He lost everything he ever had, had hoped for," said Thomas Roebig, Ridenour's attorney in the civil case. "He is starting over from scratch."

Gonzalez referred calls about the lawsuit to his attorney, who could not be reached. Gonzalez has offices on Cypress Street in Tampa and should not be confused with Tampa attorney Michael Celso Gonzalez, who has offices on E Twigg Street and has no connection to the Ridenour case.

In August 2000, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that Gonzalez represented Ridenour ineffectively on two important points.

First, the court said, he failed to challenge a prosecutor's assertion to jurors that Ridenour had been convicted of a felony, aggravated battery. Ridenour had not been convicted of the charge.

In 1991, Ridenour pleaded no contest to aggravated battery, but a judge withheld adjudication, or a formal finding of guilt.

The court also faulted Gonzalez for failing to call several witnesses who might have supported Ridenour's self-defense claim.

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