A Colorado lawyer who ran naked at a Phish concert in Mexico in 2022 and injured several people in the crowd, including another lawyer’s friend, faced disciplinary action from the state supreme court. The lawyer who represented the injured friend, Sarah Schielke, is a well-known advocate for victims of police brutality and wrongful arrests, who has secured millions of dollars in settlements for her clients. She received a public censure from the court for her harsh and threatening treatment of the naked lawyer, Vincent DiMichele.
The disciplinary summary, issued on Jan. 26, stated that Schielke’s friend was attending a Phish concert near Cancun when DiMichele, who was also a Colorado lawyer, tried to rush the stage while naked and shoved her and other people in the crowd. Schielke’s friend had recently undergone spinal surgery and was left in pain and trauma by DiMichele’s actions. Schielke sent DiMichele a letter, calling him names such as “violent psychopath”, “idiot”, “terrible attorney”, and “disgrace to the Colorado Bar, the Phish community, and (his) family”.
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Schielke demanded that DiMichele pay her friend $50,000, promise not to contact or touch her again, and keep a distance of 25 feet from her at future Phish concerts. She offered to drop any legal action, keep the incident confidential, and not report him to his alma mater or his employers if he agreed to her terms. However, she warned him that if he refused, she would sue him in the US and Mexico, report him to the local police, and release a press statement with a video showing him naked and struggling with security at the concert.
The court found that Schielke violated two rules of professional conduct, one of which forbids lawyers from making threats to gain an advantage. Schielke defended her actions in a statement to CBS News Colorado, saying that she was passionate about justice and that DiMichele had hurt her close friend, who was already vulnerable. She said that DiMichele had boasted about his naked rampage online, using his real name and sharing a photo of himself, which caused more distress to her friend. She said that she was shocked to discover that he was a Colorado lawyer and that he had acted so irresponsibly.
According to state records, DiMichele’s law license is currently inactive. Schielke’s public censure is the first time she has faced any disciplinary action in her legal career.
