The Attempted Murder of Linda Sandler (Crime Documentary)
- 5 years ago
Maintaining his innocence, Sandler claims that his defense lawyers - well-known Chester County defense attorneys Thomas A. Bergstrom and Robert J. Donatoni - failed to properly defend him.
As a result, according to the lawsuit Sandler filed against the pair in Montgomery County Court, he is now wrongfully incarcerated in a state prison as a convicted felon.
Not only did the pair fail to win him an acquittal but they also failed to get the higher courts to overturn his conviction, the lawsuit said.
This purported wrongful conviction has damaged his good name, caused him to sustain great financial losses and the loss of future earnings and caused him to suffer irreversible emotional, mental, physical and psychological harm, according to the lawsuit Sandler filed in his own behalf.
Sandler, a 54-year-old former Bryn Mawr resident serving an 8 1/2- to 25-year prison sentence, is suing the pair for in excess of $15 million.
""This is just Mr. Sandler at his best,"" Bergstrom responded Tuesday when asked to comment on the lawsuit.
Bergstrom said he would shortly be filing a legal response to the allegations and asking that the lawsuit be tossed out.
Donatoni said he was ""outraged"" by the lawsuit, more for Bergstrom than himself.
""It is an abuse of the system to attack a lawyer of the caliber of Tom Bergstrom, who puts his heart and soul into the defense of every client,"" said Donatoni. ""To say that he did something to the detriment of a client, I would use stronger terms to describe my thoughts if I was not constrained by professional ethics and your ability to print my remarks.""
""This is Joel Sandler as the everyday Joel Sandler,"" said Donatoni. ""He had one good lawyer and one excellent lawyer and to say we laid down in our defense of him is both a professional and a personal insult. We don't deserve this.""
The former Lower Merion securities broker was arrested on April 26, 2001, on charges he attempted to solicit a hit man to murder his estranged wife after she filed for a divorce to end the bouts of physical and mental abuse that she and her children received at Sandler's hands.
Sandler wanted his wife dead to keep her from getting more than half of the couple's estimated $7 million in marital assets as well as to end the possibility of his having to give sworn testimony in their divorce proceedings about his finances - testimony that could have left him vulnerable to possible federal civil and criminal tax evasion penalties, according to authorities.
The hitman whom Sandler negotiated with was actually undercover Montgomery County Detective Erick Echevarria, who was used after authorities were tipped that Sandler was looking for a hit man.
Sandler negotiated $25,000 for the hit and even requested that the body of the victim - whom he did not identify at the time - be moved and burned or destroyed in a manner that could not be traced back to him.
As a result, according to the lawsuit Sandler filed against the pair in Montgomery County Court, he is now wrongfully incarcerated in a state prison as a convicted felon.
Not only did the pair fail to win him an acquittal but they also failed to get the higher courts to overturn his conviction, the lawsuit said.
This purported wrongful conviction has damaged his good name, caused him to sustain great financial losses and the loss of future earnings and caused him to suffer irreversible emotional, mental, physical and psychological harm, according to the lawsuit Sandler filed in his own behalf.
Sandler, a 54-year-old former Bryn Mawr resident serving an 8 1/2- to 25-year prison sentence, is suing the pair for in excess of $15 million.
""This is just Mr. Sandler at his best,"" Bergstrom responded Tuesday when asked to comment on the lawsuit.
Bergstrom said he would shortly be filing a legal response to the allegations and asking that the lawsuit be tossed out.
Donatoni said he was ""outraged"" by the lawsuit, more for Bergstrom than himself.
""It is an abuse of the system to attack a lawyer of the caliber of Tom Bergstrom, who puts his heart and soul into the defense of every client,"" said Donatoni. ""To say that he did something to the detriment of a client, I would use stronger terms to describe my thoughts if I was not constrained by professional ethics and your ability to print my remarks.""
""This is Joel Sandler as the everyday Joel Sandler,"" said Donatoni. ""He had one good lawyer and one excellent lawyer and to say we laid down in our defense of him is both a professional and a personal insult. We don't deserve this.""
The former Lower Merion securities broker was arrested on April 26, 2001, on charges he attempted to solicit a hit man to murder his estranged wife after she filed for a divorce to end the bouts of physical and mental abuse that she and her children received at Sandler's hands.
Sandler wanted his wife dead to keep her from getting more than half of the couple's estimated $7 million in marital assets as well as to end the possibility of his having to give sworn testimony in their divorce proceedings about his finances - testimony that could have left him vulnerable to possible federal civil and criminal tax evasion penalties, according to authorities.
The hitman whom Sandler negotiated with was actually undercover Montgomery County Detective Erick Echevarria, who was used after authorities were tipped that Sandler was looking for a hit man.
Sandler negotiated $25,000 for the hit and even requested that the body of the victim - whom he did not identify at the time - be moved and burned or destroyed in a manner that could not be traced back to him.