A Los Angeles attorney is in trouble with the State Bar of California after she unleashed violent and inflammatory comments at demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd.
According to KTLA, Marla Anne Brown made more than a dozen posts on social media, specifically her Twitter account @SoCalMAB, in May 2020, which the California Bar saw as inciting violence.
The comments came following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, which ignited protests and demonstrations nationwide.
Brown posted from her Twitter account those protesting Floyd’s murder to be shot and executed. She even suggested that their homes be burned down, KTLA reported. She also engaged with then-President Donald Trump’s tweet about shooting looters.
“They need to be shot,” Brown tweeted. In another tweet about local protests, she tweeted, “Shoot the protestors,” according to KTLA.
Responding to a tweet from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Brown wrote, “Let’s go burn your house down with you in it.”
She also directed her comments toward her community, according to Above the Law
: “For example, when a Twitter user shared this message about protests in the Los Angeles area, ‘Heads up LA protesters at #Fairfax and #lacienega, the Venice/La Brea police department just sent about 20 cars over, blocking traffic, traveling fast. Stay safe,’ Brown allegedly responded, ‘Shoot the protesters.'”“While the First Amendment establishes a broad right to free speech, no one has the right to incite violence,” said George Cardona, State Bar of California’s chief trial counsel. “For California attorneys, reckless actions like these violate their oath and duties as licensees.”
The bar also said that Brown claimed to be an LAPD union attorney, which is false. That credit was in her Twitter bio. The account, to the shock of no one and the relief of everyone, is inactive. According to her business website, which wasn’t working at press time, Brown passed the California Bar in 1989 and has been a sole practitioner since 2010
According to KTLA,the State Bar Court will determine whether or not Brown has committed professional misconduct, and if so, she will face discipline, which includes suspension or disbarment.