Former Renton attorney accused of stabbing rival lawyer

A previous Renton legal protection legal professional nursed a yearslong grudge towards seven legal professionals and judges he blamed for ruining his reputation and authorized profession, then ambushed just one of the lawyers, stabbing him in the back, King County prosecutors say.

Lee Rousso self-printed a e book in 2021, decades right after his regulation license was suspended, detailing perceived wrongs versus him, together with homicidal fantasies involving the team of seven, who he referred to as the “Bar Card Lynch Mob,” court docket records present.

The most important focus on of Rousso’s ire was a 64-12 months-previous longtime Seattle felony defense legal professional, who he’s accused of stabbing in the back again Dec. 13 prior to fleeing to California, in accordance to a first-degree assault demand filed Thursday. Pasadena law enforcement took Rousso, also 64, into custody a couple of several hours right after a warrant was issued for his arrest, then booked him into the Los Angeles County Jail, data clearly show.

At the time Rousso is introduced back again to Washington, prosecutors have asked that he be held in lieu of $5 million bail.

The seven attorneys and judges, “targeted as a end result of their perform in the felony justice technique, have watched with major concern as the defendant’s anger has greater, fairly than dissipated, with the passage of time,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Gary Ernsdorff wrote in charging papers.

“His rage covers all 7 but is generally centered on the sufferer in this case,” Ernsdorff wrote, referencing Rousso’s e-book.

Ernsdorff wrote in charging papers that as Rousso’s daily life crumbled — he shuttered his law follow, sold his relatives property and seems to be unemployed — he “crossed the line from fantasy to fact.”

Ernsdorff observed in charging papers that the wounded legal professional probably prevented a a lot more critical or lethal personal injury since he was putting on a backpack when he was attacked.

A girl dwelling in Seattle’s Central District identified as 911 the night of Dec. 13, reporting her neighbor experienced been stabbed outside the house his property and that his assailant experienced pushed away in a blue car, according to charging papers.

Seattle police learned the wounded guy was a legal protection attorney who experienced driven residence from his downtown regulation workplace and seen a male in a parked motor vehicle just north of his household, say the prices.

As the lawyer walked to his dwelling, he felt a blow to his back, yelled for enable, and watched the man he experienced found get back again into his car and push absent, the rates say.

The legal professional — who was able to offer the very first three letters of the car’s license plate variety — understood he had been stabbed just after he felt liquid on his again, taken out the backpack he was donning and observed a “Rambo-like” knife on the ground, in accordance to the prices. Although at Harborview Medical Middle, the legal professional informed police he suspected his assailant may perhaps have been Rousso, the charges say.

Roughly 10 years previously, though representing a man interesting a felony conviction, the attorney identified that Rousso, the man’s trial legal professional, hadn’t reviewed some proof in the initial case, in accordance to the expenses. As a result, the legal professional claimed Rousso had supplied ineffective counsel, the costs say.

Rousso later sued the attorney and yet another law firm concerned in the appeals scenario for defamation, saying they had ruined his standing, in accordance to the charges. The defamation case was later dismissed, and Rousso was ordered to spend the other attorneys’ legal fees.

Right after the stabbing, the injured attorney contacted the other legal professional sued by Rousso to inform her about the incident, the rates say. The woman and her partner afterwards explained to law enforcement they and their neighbors had also viewed a suspicious blue car parked outside the house their Ballard residence in the days just before the other lawyer was stabbed, say the fees.

Witness interviews, cellphone data, work data from Rousso’s prior work as an Uber driver, and purchases created on his state-issued digital added benefits transfer card placed him in close proximity to each attorneys’ residences and served law enforcement make a felony scenario versus him, according to the expenses.

The 41-website page charging doc contains excerpts from Rousso’s ebook, quoting him as expressing he’s specific he could get rid of the male attorney and get absent with it and that he had desires of disfiguring the woman legal professional.