Barrington State Rep Candidate Represents Multiple Sex Offenders, Child Porn Cases

Barrington State Rep Candidate Represents Multiple Sex Offenders, Child Porn Cases

Jason Knight, who is running in the Democratic primary against incumbent Jan Malik in House District 57 (Warren, Barrington), has represented DUIs, child pornographers, and sex offender clients since starting his own practice. 

The relevance of Knight's practice and other attorneys running for office derives from a new focus on who candidate's are representing in their practices. Last week, incumbent House Majority Leader John DeSimone came under fire for his representation of an accused wage-theft client. The criticism came in part from RI Future's Steve Ahlquist, who wrote that voters "should know when the people we elect to represent us also defend the monsters who oppress us."

Knight, a former state prosecutor who is endorsed by Rhode Island Working Families, has represented cases that most recently include a third degree sexual assault and indecent solicitation of a minor; a child pornography charge -- which resulted in a guilty plea and five years probation; and a DUI case that included the defendant leaving the scene of an injured individual, which resulted in a full sentence of 8 years reduced to four, with four suspended.

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"I believe it is the public's right to know what a person does for a living and who that person represents," said Malik, who was first elected to the seat in 1996, on Monday. "Personally, I am very disappointed to learn about some of the clients that my opponent represents."

 

Knight on the Record

On his campaign site, Knight acknowledges that he has "handled a wide variety of charges." His website states:

“Jason is an attorney with his own law practice. He currently specializes in criminal defense and special education law. From 2006-2010, Jason worked for the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General as a state prosecutor.  Jason has handled a wide variety of charges, including DUI and breathalyzer refusals, domestic violence, narcotics possession and trafficking, weapons charges, sexual assaults, child molestation, and homicide.”

The issue of how a defense attorney -- and politician --  handles their clients' cases came under scrutiny when Ahlquist with the progressive blog RI Future took DeSimone to task in a piece entitled, "Leader DeSimone's legal skills help wage thief."

"Voters should know when the people we elect to represent us also defend the monsters who oppress us. Anybody being sued deserves legal representation, but using slick legal moves to avoid paying workers their earned wages is simply gross," wrote Ahlquist. 

Alquihst also tweeted, "What attorneys do for their clients should be relevant to how voters perceive their ethical orientation."

Knight spoke with GoLocalProv about his practice -- and the comments -- on Monday.

"I've represented people from speeding tickets through to homicide and everywhere inbetween. They have the right to representation," said Knight.

"I was in the AG's office from June 2006 to August 2010 and I opened up my practice after I left. In law school, my third year clinic was defense. My decision after law school was that I wanted to work in this area. So I applied with  the AG and [public defender's office], and got the AG first," said Knight.

"I like going to court. Some criminal defense attorneys have always had cases they just can't do  -- I know there's a famous defense lawyer who will not do bombing cases. He says he can’t sit with someone who did that crime, and do his job objectively," said Knight. "I haven't been presented with a case that for whatever reason I can't represent a guy."

"The vast majority [of cases], when it comes to it -- the way I explain it --  in a criminal case, there's a judge, a prosecutor and defender, and all three roles need to be done well for a just result," said Knight. "I need a fair judge, and a zealous prosecutor -- and a defense attorney who basically keeps the prosecutor honest."

"Yes, the defense lawyer often gets the brunt of the criticism. But you can imagine the case where a judge or prosecutor is unethical, or where a defender phones it in-- and god forbid the client was innocent," added Knight. 

"So I haven't seen the comment [about DeSimone], but in a vacuum, no, I don't believe it's ethically appropriate to tag a lawyer to the clients he represents," said Knight. 

 

Battleground District

The Knight-Malik battle was highlighted by Sam Bell with the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America back in June in a look at progressive races by GoLocal.

"Malik has been extremely ideologically conservative, with an 'A plus' rating from the NRA. He voted against marriage equality and his district isn't extremely right wing -- it's very liberal on social issues. And Warren is a place where you saw two successful progressive town council primaries last cycle, knocking out established [Democrats]," said Bell. 

Malik's campaign finance records show that as of 28 days before the primary, he had $20,170 cash on hand; Knight has $6,645.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Libertarian Daryl Gould in the general election in November.