Daniel Horowitz

Daniel Horowitz
Born	Daniel Aaron Horowitz[1] (1954-12-14) December 14, 1954 New York City
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	Hampshire College Southwestern University School of Law
Occupation	Lawyer

Daniel Aaron Horowitz (born December 14, 1954) is an American defense attorney who has represented several high-profile clients including talk show host Michael Savage and is a frequent commentator in the media on criminal cases in the news. In 2014 Horowitz was named a Top 100 Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyers.^[2]

Background

Horowitz was born in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College. In 1980, he earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, California. He was admitted by the State Bar of California that same year. He is a Certified Specialist in Criminal Law (the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization). Horowitz married Valerie Northup, his third wife, in June, 2007.^[3] Horowitz and Northrup had a son, Isaac Aaron, in April, 2009.^[4]

Media

Horowitz became a national media personality when he became a regular television commentator during the 2004 Scott Peterson trial. Since the Peterson trial, Horowitz has been a commentator on other high-profile cases such as the Michael Jackson trial, the Melissa Huckaby trial in Tracy, California,^[5] and the Anna Nicole Smith case.^[6] He has appeared as a regular legal commentator on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

Notable cases

Horowitz represented conservative talk show host, Michael Savage, in Savage's lawsuit against CAIR. The judge sided with CAIR and dismissed Savage's lawsuit in 2008.^[7] In 2012 he won Savage's lawsuit against syndicator TRN and released Savage from his contract with that network.^[8]

Horowitz represents San Francisco Police officer Andrew Cohen in Cohen's personal injury lawsuit against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and police chief Heather Fong. This lawsuit arises out of Cohen's so called comedy video tape that led to the "VideoGate" controversy.^[9]

Horowitz also represented Kimberly Bell, the former girlfriend of San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds. Bell testified against Bonds before the Grand Jury that later indicted Bonds for perjury arising out of his denial of steroid use.^[10] Horowitz also represented Steve Williams, the man who ended up with Barry Bonds' 700th home run baseball. Various other fans claimed that they were entitled to the ball.^[11]

Horowitz' defense of husband killer Susan Polk was portrayed on Dateline NBC.^[12]

Horowitz also represented Dr. Wilmer Origel, a chiropractor who was accused of 11 felony charges, of practicing anesthesiology without a medical license, money laundering, and insurance and workers' compensation fraud totaling $5 million.^[13][14] The case became controversial because Horowitz's legal fees were paid by local taxpayers once his client ran out of money to pay for his own representation. Many felt Horowitz's bill would rapidly deplete county funds that were "used to pay local attorneys who represent criminal defendants too poor to hire lawyers themselves.^[15]" Horowitz argued that the fees paid to appointed attorneys in Stockton were so low that it almost guaranteed that the clients would receive substandard representation and won the battle over fees. The jury hung 10-2 for acquittal and all charges were later dismissed.^[16] Horowitz then sued Travelers Insurance on behalf of Origel claiming that Travelers engineered a false arrest.^[17]

Recently Martin Garbus and Horowitz had mixed results on a case involving author Terry McMillan ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back") who sued her ex-husband for $40 million.^[18] The Court of Appeal ruled that McMillan could proceed in her lawsuit against her ex-husband for his alleged misconduct at the time of their divorce but could not proceed against his attorney who they alleged used television publicity to force a settlement of the divorce.^[19] Horowitz and Garbus are now representing the authors of the book, "The Muslim Mafia" in a federal lawsuit filed against the authors by the target of the book, the organization called "CAIR".^[20]

On June 21, 2009, Horowitz hung another jury (8-4) in a high-profile murder case involving a PC World editor killed in a home invasion robbery involving marijuana. One co-defendant pleaded guilty and testified against the other two. The jury convicted one defendant but hung against Horowitz' client.^[21]

In 2013, Horowitz helped expose a Richmond, California police officer accused of taking bribes. ^[22] In 2016, Horowitz represented former Pittsburg, California police officer, Wade Derby who exposed how the department falsified crime statistics by systematically reporting criminal conduct as suspicious circumstances. This lowered the crime statistics and made the department appear to be doing a better job than it was. ^[23] On July 6, 2016, a New York Times article followed the current status of Horowitz' client, Pavel Lazarenko, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine. ^[24] The article described how Horowitz and a team of lawyers were fighting the United States government over millions of dollars that were seized as part of the criminal prosecution of Lazarenko more than 15 years ago. The Times quoted Horowitz in court papers comparing "Mr. Lazarenko to Jean Valjean, the persecuted but ethical hero of Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” who is hunted by an obsessed police inspector. The American government, he said, approached Mr. Lazarenko with “the intensity usually reserved for drug kingpins, child pornographers or other highly dangerous individuals.”

Marriage to Pamela Vitale

Horowitz met Pamela Vitale when she worked in Hollywood as an independent movie producer. He had written a screenplay about one of his cases and was shopping it around.^[25] They married in 1994.^[26]

On October 15, 2005, he found his wife dead at the mobile home in Lafayette where the couple had lived since they were married. At the time, Horowitz was defending Susan Polk in her murder trial.^[27] A local 16-year-old boy, Scott Dyleski, was arrested within days; he was convicted of killing Pamela Vitale and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in 2006.

References

External links

• Official Website
• FindLaw Profile