More on the Recommendation of Cristina Gutierrez as Adnan’s Attorney

In last night’s Addendum Episode of the Undisclosed Podcast, I interviewed Chris Flohr after finding one of the documents in which he recommended Cristina Gutierrez as Adnan’s attorney. Importantly, Flohr did not recommend Gutierrez by herself; instead, as this excerpt makes clear, Flohr recommended her as part of a team along with her associate, Mark Martin:

This team, of course, fell apart when Martin left Gutierrez’s firm in July 1999 after doing some important work on the case. After initially speaking with Flohr, I actually tracked down a couple of other documents in which he was recommending attorneys for Adnan.

Here’s an excerpt from a second document:

The name at the top of the list, interestingly enough, is William “Billy” Murphy, Gutierrez’s old law partner. And here’s an excerpt from a third document:

So, again, we have Mark Martin’s name. I asked Flohr what the notation “email guy” meant, but he couldn’t remember sixteen years later. Billy Murphy’s name is mentioned again, although possibly only as someone who knows Gutierrez. It looks like Flohr was also recommending an attorney with involvement in the Rubin “Hurricance” Carter case.

Then, there’s the final notation. Before looking at it again right now, I assumed that Flohr must have been referring to Anne Benaroya. Thinking about it again, however, I realize that this document was likely written in March or April of 1999, with Gutierrez taking over the case on April 16, 1999. Jay didn’t meet with Benaroya until September 7, 1999. So now, I’m not sure what the notation means.

[Edit: It looks like this last document consists of notes taken by Sarah Koenig despite the document being titled “Chris Flohr Notes.” So, luckily, there’s not yet another mystery in this case.].

-CM