Texas lawyer who filmed Capitol riots fired from his job
Goosehead Insurance affiliate common counsel, Paul Davis, was terminated after a live-streamed video shared to social media confirmed the Texas lawyer’s participation in Wednesday’s breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Gooshead confirmed Davis was “no longer employed” in a tweet Thursday.
According to a memo to employees obtained by Bloomberg Law, Goosehead CEO and co-founder Mark Jones mentioned the corporate was not conscious of Davis’ plans to be a part of the “violent demonstration.”
“While we support our employees’ right to vote and express themselves politically, we do not condone violent or illegal acts. This one former employee’s actions are not reflective of our company culture or values, and we are disappointed with his behavior,” Jones reportedly mentioned within the Thursday morning message. “Thankfully, we have the cherished rights of assembly and free speech, but those rights do not—and cannot—extend to violence in any form.”
Goosehead Insurance didn’t instantly return FOX News’ request for remark.
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Salon workers author Roger Sollenberger shared a collection of clips from Davis’ dwell streams in a tweet and tagged Goosehead. As of Thursday night, the video has been considered over 1.8 million occasions.
“Today he stormed the capitol building in an attempt to stage a coup against the US government and documented it (!) on Instagram,” Sollenberger wrote.
“All we’re doing is demanding that our public officials audit the Dominon machines, audit the ballots. There’s a way to do it, we can solve this in two days,” Davis mentioned within the video clip. “If this was a legitimate election then let us inspect it and if Biden won let’s all go on with our lives, but you know what I don’t think that happened.”
Davis implied wrongdoing as a result of there won’t be an audit.
“The fact that they will not let us inspect any of the ballots or the machines should tell you something,” Davis continued. “We’re all trying to get into the Capitol to stop this and this is what’s happening…they’re tear gassing us and this is not acceptable, not acceptable, the people are not going to stand for this.”
Trump supporters descended on the Capitol Building on Wednesday as a joint session of Congress was certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, inflicting lawmakers to enter lockdown. The riot left 4 lifeless, together with one pro-Trump demonstrator who was shot and killed by Capitol Hill police, and at the very least 68 arrests, in accordance with Washington police.
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Davis graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 2011, in accordance with a profile on the State Bar of Texas’ website.
Despite being fired from Goosehead, the State Bar of Texas confirmed to FOX News that Davis remains to be eligible to apply regulation within the state.
“When a Texas-licensed lawyer is subject to public controversy, it is common for people to call for the State Bar of Texas to quickly disbar or otherwise sanction the lawyer — or to comment on the attorney’s case,” the group mentioned in an announcement. “Under Texas state law, the attorney disciplinary system is a deliberative process with checks and balances designed to protect Texans from unethical attorneys while ensuring due process for lawyers accused of wrongdoing.”
The State Bar of Texas isn’t in a position to “immediately discipline an attorney, but instead proceeds deliberately through the process with sanctions issued as appropriate under law according to the facts of each case.”
In addition, state regulation requires the State Bar of Texas to maintain all disciplinary case data confidential until it has been filed in district courtroom or resulted in a public sanction.
“As a result, the State Bar is typically unable to discuss the existence of pending grievances or confirm investigations into potential attorney wrongdoing,” the company added. “The State Bar of Texas is committed to protecting the public by ensuring lawyers follow the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure.”
Anyone who believes a lawyer has violated the State Bar’s guidelines can file a grievance with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel.
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Law & Crime reported that Davis denied wrongdoing in a post to Instagram.
“For those of you claiming I was trying to ‘storm the Capitol,’ it’s obvious from my entire story that I was peacefully demonstrating,” Davis wrote, in accordance with the outlet. “They gassed the entire crowd that was standing there with me. I was not trying to break in. Was just talking to the police officers and praying over them.”
In a follow-up publish, Davis reportedly added he didn’t intend something violent by saying they have been “trying to get into the capitol,” however that he was discussing protest.
“The Twitter video is out of context, just like they do to all conservative patriots,” he mentioned.
Davis’ Instagram account has since been made personal. He didn’t instantly return a number of requests from FOX News for remark.
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
