Case of staged wrecks, disbarred lawyer, stuntwoman attorney takes dark turn with murders

NOLA

"A complex federal case involving a New Orleans man who allegedly made a living by causing car wrecks, a stuntwoman-turned-lawyer who represented him and her fiancé — a disbarred lawyer and convicted felon — took a gothic turn this week when the accused accident stager was fatally shot ahead of his arraignment."

Sources familiar with the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Garrison had been cooperating with federal authorities, and investigators were examining the possibility that his killing was a hit meant to silence a witness.

Whatever the motive, Garrison’s killing could have an effect on a case that presumably was being built against his attorney, Vanessa Motta. The charges filed against him allege that Motta, who features her work as an on-screen stuntwoman in television commercials billing her as “a bad a— attorney,” helped secure a fraudulent $650,000 settlement in an accident that Garrison staged and for which he was paid a share of the settlement.

The court records don’t name Motta or her fiancé, Sean Alfortish, but they strongly suggest that Alfortish was paying Garrison to stage the accidents and referring the resulting legal work to Motta. Justice Department policy generally calls for using pseudonyms for people accused in documents of breaking the law but not charged with a crime. The indictment calls Alfortish “Co-conspirator A” and Motta “Attorney B.”

He was at least the third “slammer” involved in the federal investigation into staged accidents to die. The Sept. 18 indictment mentions two other deceased slammers, but it does not name them or explain how they died.

Now who said the New Orleans Mafia was dead because this strongly suggests it is still alive and kicking.