Anne Melani Bremner (born June 4, 1958) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
attorney and television personality.
She has been a television commentator on a number of high-profile cases, including in the
murder of Meredith Kercher
Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher (28 December 1985 – 1 November 2007) was a British student on exchange from the University of Leeds who was murdered at the age of 21 in Perugia, Italy. Kercher was found dead on the floor of her bedroom. By the ...
in Italy as legal counsel and as a spokesperson for the
Friends of Amanda Knox.
Early life and education
Bremner was born in
McAlester, Oklahoma.
Bremner attended
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, where she studied medieval history, graduating in 1980 with honors.
She describes her student self as "a liberal, an idealist, and a Democrat" who was
opposed to capital punishment.
She went on to
Seattle University School of Law
Seattle University School of Law, or Seattle Law School, or SU Law (formerly University of Puget Sound School of Law) is the law school affiliated with Seattle University, the Northwest's largest independent university.
The School is accredite ...
, where she completed her J.D. degree in 1982.
Career
Prosecutor
From 1983 to 1988, Bremner was a deputy prosecuting attorney with the criminal division of the
King County Prosecuting Attorney
The King County Prosecuting Attorney is a non-partisan elected official in King County, Washington. The Prosecuting Attorney leads the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and prosecutes all felonies (as well as all misdemeanors in unincorpo ...
's Office, specializing in
sex crimes.
During these years she came into contact with a number of high-profile cases, such as the
Wah Mee massacre trials. The experience, along with those later in her career, began to modulate her views on the death penalty, which she had always staunchly opposed.
In 1985, she was deputy prosecuting attorney in a case against a
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
police officer believed to be the first person to be charged under the state's new
computer trespass law. A trial court convicted the officer of the charges, but the
Washington Court of Appeals overturned his conviction.
Private practice
Bremner worked as a lawyer at Stafford Frey Cooper in Seattle from 1988 to 2012. During her career in private practice, Bremner represented law enforcement and judges in various civil and criminal cases. In 1996, she successfully defended the
Seattle Police Department's use of
police dogs to find and bite suspects against an
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
(ACLU) challenge claiming that it violated suspects' civil rights and constituted excessive force.
In 2001, she represented the
Bellevue Police Department during the inquest into the conduct of officer Mike Hetle during his second fatal shooting that year; the jury found that Metle had reason to fear death or serious bodily harm.
In the 2002 case ''Vili Fualaau v. Highline School District and the Des Moines Police Department'', filed by the family of
Mary Kay Letourneau's student Vili Fualaau, Bremner successfully defended the police department against liability for damages. She became acquainted with Letourneau during the course of the lawsuit; the two would develop a friendship.
Media attention
Bremner appears on television as a legal analyst, explaining prominent cases to the general public. In 2004, she appeared on
Court TV
Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...
and other cable networks covering the trial of
Scott Peterson for the
murder of Laci Peterson
Laci Denise Peterson (born Rocha; May 4, 1975 — c. December 24, 2002) was an American woman who was the subject of a highly publicized murder case after she disappeared while eight months pregnant with her first child. She was reportedly last s ...
.
Similarly in 2005, she took an unpaid
leave of absence from her job to offer television commentary on ''
People v. Jackson'', stating that the publicity had brought in millions of dollars of business for her firm. In 2009, she appeared variously on
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
with
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments' ...
to discuss the
Casey Anthony case.
In October 2008, Bremner took up the cause of
Amanda Knox, a
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
student charged with the
murder of Meredith Kercher
Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher (28 December 1985 – 1 November 2007) was a British student on exchange from the University of Leeds who was murdered at the age of 21 in Perugia, Italy. Kercher was found dead on the floor of her bedroom. By the ...
in Perugia, Italy. She was contacted by family members of Knox's classmates, including Mike Heavey, a superior court judge with whom she was previously acquainted. The group subsequently held fundraisers to pay for Knox's defense, lobby lawmakers, and conduct public relations activities, turning media focus toward the conduct of the prosecution, especially Perugia chief prosecutor
Giuliano Mignini
Giuliano Mignini (born April 13, 1950)Burleigh 2011, pp. 153–154. is an Italian magistrate. He retired as a public prosecutor in Perugia, Umbria, in 2020.
He is known for his involvement as the prosecutor in the investigation of the death of ...
. Bremner made various television appearances regarding the case, describing Knox as "naive" and comparing her to the title character in the French film ''
Amélie''.
She represents the parents of
Susan Powell, a homemaker who went missing in Utah in 2009, in their lawsuit for insurance money. The lawsuit ended in a settlement in March 2015.
In 2011, Bremner was hired by family of
Rebecca Zahau Nalepa, a woman who committed suicide after being present in a house during an incident where her boyfriend's young son died. Bremner, representing Zahau's family, sued the deceased boy's parents, Jonah and Dina Shacknai, claiming that Zahau had been murdered, contrary to the conclusion of the police investigation which ruled Zahau's death a suicide with no foul play. Bremner went on many television shows and made statements such as, "this doesn't pass the smell test" and claimed that "This would be the first case in the history of the world that a woman killed herself like this ... It's ridiculous on the face of it"; however, officials said that the way Zahau killed herself is "not unprecedented and there is no evidence that there was foul play".
In 2013–2014, Bremner represented true crime author
Ann Rule in a defamation suit against ''
Seattle Weekly'' and lost. The state Supreme Court reversed a matter that reinstated Ann Rule's case.
Other activities
In 2003, Bremner was one of the founding members of the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town, along with Washington Supreme Court justice
Phil Talmadge
Phil Talmadge (born c. 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist, who is currently a partner at the Seattle, Washington law firm Talmadge/Fitzpatrick. Talmadge graduated from Yale University and received a J.D. from the University of ...
. The group was formed to pressure the
Hearst Corporation
Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...
and
The Seattle Times Company to continue printing their respective newspapers, the ''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States.
The newspaper was foun ...
'' and ''
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...
'', under their
joint operating agreement signed in 1982. The group specifically opposed an attempt by the ''Times'' to dissolve the JOA and permit Hearst to close the ''Post-Intelligencer'' in exchange for 32% of the ''Times profits for 80 years. However, in March 2009, the ''Post-Intelligencer'' printed its last paper edition and moved to an
online-only format. In an e-mail about the event, Bremner stated: "What a terribly sad day this is. Only tomorrow will be worse." Bremner was a regular contributor to ''
Women in Crime Ink'', which the ''
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' called "a blog worth reading."
DUI case
On June 3, 2010, Bremner had automobile difficulties and called
9-1-1
, usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...
. A
county sheriff suspected she was intoxicated and arrested her.
She pleaded guilty to DUI on September 1
and was sentenced to two days in jail.
References
External links
*
*
Anne Bremner Lawyer Profile On LawTally
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bremner, Anne
1958 births
Living people
American women lawyers
Lawyers from Seattle
Seattle University School of Law alumni
Stanford University alumni
Washington (state) lawyers
People from McAlester, Oklahoma
21st-century American women
21st-century American lawyers