07 October 2007

john charles ashley

downtown alexandria, la shooting incident
thursday 04 october 2007

we believe that the town talk is on the right track when billy gunn and abbey brown reported yesterday that "Gunman's ex-wife was seeking half of his assets" which louisiana community property law says that she is entitled to the half of his assets attributable to their marriage.

according to the rapides parish clerk of court's website, at the time of the 04 october 2007, downtown alexandria shooting, the sheriff's department was looking for mr. ashley to serve him a court order.

mr. ashley's ex-wife, ms. audrey dorothy ashley, had recently filed court pleadings through her attorney donald r. brown, esq. to ninth judicial district court judge george metoyer which caused the judge on monday 01 october 2007, to order mr. ashley to appear before him on monday 22 october 2007. the service of process to mr. ashley was marked "deceased" when it was returned unserved to the rapides parish clerk of court on friday 05 october 2007. the suit is audrey dorothy ashley -v- john charles ashley 189,259 div "c".

mr. ashley must have known that he was going to lose at the 22 october 2007 hearing because of his own pleadings he filed himself on 22 november 2006. the town talk is correct when they report that
[C]ourt records obtained by The Town Talk show that Audrey Ashley, who was divorced from John Ashley in 1997, had sought in September 2006 a community property division in 9th Judicial District Court of net assets in which she said she was entitled to more than $55,000 in assets.
what the town talk didnt tell, is that mr. ashley who represented himself on 22 november 2006, plead in his detailed descriptive list that his assets were "unknown." the detailed descriptive list refers to that pleading each party is required to file which lists each party's assets and liabilities.. the court uses this information so that it can arrive at a fair and equitable division of the party's assets -- see Sims v. Sims, 358 So.2d 919, 922 (La. 1978)., which set forth the formula for courts to divide community owned pension benefits.

the town talk must have made a typo when they wrote concerning ms. ashley's detailed descriptive list: "Those estimated assets, calculated by Audrey Ashley, did not include half of John Ashley's retirement benefits..." because court papers available on the rapides parish clerk of courts website show that audrey ashley did include half of john ashley's retirement benefits. ms. ashley in her detailed descriptive list, listed as assets not only mr. ashley's city retirement but also listed her own state retirement in which mr. ashley would have had an interest in.

by mr. ashley's 22 november 2006 pleading that his assets were "unknown" when in fact his assets were known would appear to have been a tactic mr. ashley used to forestall the inevitable. mr. ashley certainly knew what his city of alexandria retirement benefits were. he complained about health insurance rates to the alexandria city council on 26 april 2005. there was also community property located at 243 gabriel lane in acadian village. judge metoyer was merely ordering him to come to court to explain why ms. ashley's detailed descriptive list wasnt correct.

klax-tv on friday 05 october 2007 posted a video [audio] report to their website, in which they report that mr. ashley was "a disgruntled client of sixty year old camille giordano who had agreed to refund his fee to ashley, but ashley demanded cash apparently thats when ashley took out a handgun and started shooting..."

an attorney formerly associated with the so called gold law firm and odgen middleton, david hesser, was quoted by the town talk as saying: that mr. "ashley didnt seem like he was crazy". mr. ashley [telephoned] mr. hesser a few weeks ago and told him that he was "unhappy with giordano."
town talk snip:
David Hesser, who primarily practices family law, said Ashley called a few weeks ago but didn't seem violent or unpredictable."The shocking thing to me is that when I talked to him, I didn't think at all, 'This guy's a loose cannon,'" Hesser said. "I talk to a lot of people that would cause me much more concern than him. He must have kept his anger to himself."

Ashley didn't specify which Giordano he was referring to, but Camille Giordano is the attorney at the firm who normally handles family law cases.

The most memorable part of the conversation with Ashley was the fact that it wasn't really memorable at all, Hesser said."I wouldn't have thought that this could have ever happened," Hesser said. "He didn't seem like a guy that would be capable of something like this. He did say he was unhappy, but he seemed polite, nice. He didn't seem like he was crazy or anything."

Ashley hadn't yet hired him, Hesser said, but had called inquiring about Hesser's services. And Ashley didn't go into detail about what the legal matter was or why he was unhappy with "Giordano," Hesser said.
mr. hesser's comments have caused some commenters over on cenla antics to speculate whether or not that by revealing this, mr.hesser might have breached attorney client privilege. this commenter refers us to a cnn story and another mentions a supreme court opinion: Swidler & Berlin v. United States (June 25, 1998).

mr. ashley's name first appears in ninth judicial district court filings dated 17 april 1986. the late attorney louis berry appeared to represent mr. ashley and his co-heirs in a judgment of possession.

a few years later the red river water way expropriated the heir property mentioned in 1986's judgment of possession. the money was placed in the registry of the court and in 1989 camille giordano represented mr. ashley and his co-heirs in withdrawing the money from the court's registry.

in 1993 an attorney, m. falcon, represented mr. ashley and a lot of other city employees in a class action suit against the city of alexandria.

in 1996 mr. ashley while driving a city vehicle hit a car driven by patricia anderson that suit was settled.

on 16 july 1999 united companies lending corporation sued john c. ashley, who was unrepresented by counsel and audrey ashley to foreclose on the 243 gabriel lane property. the suit was dismissed 21 july 1999 by judge wm polk. suit no. 196,656 div "e".

john c ashley is one plaintiff among many in an ongoing suit against durawood, colfax creosoting, roy o martin and others for 'harmful levels of various toxic chemicals in the air, water, ground, dust particles emanating from durawood et al and the railroad." the plaintiff's lawyer is named j. tain jr. and the suit no. is 214,913

on 16 november 2006 home servicing llc sued john c ashley. it was an executory process mortage foreclosure again on the gabriel lane, acadian village property. home servicing plead that the note and mortgage were not paid. a sheriff sale was advertised on 13 february 2007. mr. ashley was unrepresented and in default. see suit no. 225,917 div "f".

a johnny ashley was involved in a medical malpractice claim pending before a medical review panel. johnny ashley was represented by joseph t. dalrymple, esq. [rivers beck dalrymple and ledet] against dr kelvin spears. a partner in the provosty firm david sobel, representing dr spears filed a discovery suit against mr. ashley on 18 june 2007. with the discovery suit was 'rule to compel response to interrogatories and request for production of documents and for expenses' it was continued w/o date on 30 july 2007. see 228,344 div "d".
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john c. ashley obituary

town talk link
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related posts
  • downtown alexandria, la shooting incident
  • marty thiels
  • camille joseph "joey" giordano ii

  • central la politics blog contributed to this post and we thank them.

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