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(Photo -
@Com)
Civil rights attorney Brian
Barnard, photographed in Salt
Lake City's
Mestizo
coffee house in 2012, addressing
Utah's atheist community on his
recent victory in the UHP
crosses case. He died in his
sleep Sep 4 2012.
Obituary
Utah Legal Clinic
Brian Barnard represented atheists
and polygamists, panhandlers and
prisoners.
He battled governments — to have a
small religious group’s "seven
aphorisms" placed next to the 10
Commandments in a public park and to
remove crosses from public land
along the highways. He fought to
stop overcrowding in jails and to
allow women into private clubs.
On Tuesday, as news of the
67-year-old civil rights attorney’s
death spread throughout the legal
community, Utah attorneys mourned
the loss of a "fearless lion" who
had an "unwavering commitment to the
protection of the people on the
fringes of society."
"Brian’s death is a huge loss to the
community," said the American Civil
Liberties Union of Utah in a
statement. "Whenever anyone thinks
of a civil rights lawyer in Utah,
they think of Brian Barnard. He has
stood up for the rights of the
marginalized and vulnerable for
decades and has been instrumental in
moving civil rights forward."
The Utah Legal Clinic, where Barnard
worked, said he "passed away
peacefully in his sleep" in his home
near the University of Utah over the
weekend. Salt Lake City police said
they were alerted to a death at
Barnard’s home around 11 a.m. on
Tuesday. The death was not
suspicious, police said, and no
autopsy was planned.
For more than 40 years, Barnard was
a legal gadfly who once described
himself to a Salt Lake Tribune
reporter as someone who would never
be appointed a judge, invited to
join the Alta Club, or called as a
Mormon General Authority.
"A skilled attorney, Brian spent his
career advocating for those who
lacked a choice or the power to do
so on their own," the Utah Legal
Clinic said in a statement. "Among
others, Brian represented homeless
panhandlers, women denied access to
a myriad of institutions on account
of their gender, members of
unpopular faiths, prisoners forced
to live in deplorable conditions and
victims of police brutality. We live
in a more just world for his having
been with us."
Barnard’s advocacy and litigation
led to women being allowed
membership in the Alta Club in
downtown Salt Lake City, as well as
the state’s Elks Lodges. In 2010,
Barnard and attorney John Pace
finally settled an 18-year fight
between the state and the Navajo
tribal members in San Juan County
over unpaid oil drilling royalties
for $33 million. Even while the case
moved ponderously through the
courts, Barnard never gave up the
fight.
"Our clients were tenacious,"
Barnard said at the time. "Our cause
was just."
Barnard helped end St. George’s
40-year practice of covering the
cost of lighting the exterior of the
LDS temple and brought down memorial
crosses for fallen Highway Patrol
troopers after arguing that the
symbols were not inclusive of all
faiths.
Source by Aaron Falk and Brooke
Adams:
Sltrib/news
SALT LAKE CITY — Renowned Utah civil
rights lawyer Brian Barnard — who
often took on unpopular clients in
the face of public opposition — has
died, his legal clinic confirmed. He
was 67.
Barnard died peacefully in his sleep
over the weekend, the Utah Legal
Clinic said. His death is not
considered suspicious, Salt Lake
City police said.
Outside the Utah Legal Clinic, the
doors were closed and appointments
had been canceled. Staffers consoled
one another.
“It’s a great loss for us and
Brian’s loved ones and also for the
legal community in Utah,” Stewart
Gollan, Barnard’s law partner told
FOX 13. “Brian changed the landscape
of the legal community in very
profound ways and gave a voice to
literally tens of thousands of
people who had nowhere else to turn
when their rights were being
violated and they needed someone to
stand up and vindicate them.”
Barnard was known for championing
some unpopular causes. He
represented prison inmates,
atheists, animal rights activists,
polygamists, panhandlers and bar
owners in legal fights over
constitutional rights.
“There are a lot of people who talk
about loving the Constitution,” said
Bill Tibbitts of the Crossroads
Urban Center. “Brian Barnard was
somebody who was willing to stick up
for the Constitution, even when it
was unpopular.”
Tibbitts said Barnard represented
many homeless people in cases,
including a lawsuit against the
government that sought to crack down
on panhandling.
Some of Barnard’s own staff
disagreed with some of the causes he
took to court, but supported their
right to be heard.
“Even if I don’t personally agree
with this, I can see the logic and
the benefit of it and I will stand
next to him to defend that,” said
Krista Stoker, Barnard’s longtime
paralegal. “Because somebody’s got
to do it. It’s not easy work. It’s
kind of dirty work, but somebody’s
got to do it.”
Most recently, Barnard went to the
U.S. Supreme Court and successfully
argued to have the Utah Highway
Patrol remove a series of highway
crosses from public roads on behalf
of a group of atheists.
“I consider him the Clarence Darrow
of Utah,” said Richard Andrews, the
president of the Salt Lake Valley
Atheists, which brought the lawsuit
against the UHP. “He wasn’t in it
for the money. He took cases on what
he believed in.”
Even his opponents in the courtroom
mourned his loss.
“I mourn loss of premier defender of
civil liberties,” Utah Attorney
General Mark Shurtleff said on
Twitter. “Brian Barnard was opposite
me 20 yrs in court but epitomized
zealous client advocacy.”
Assistant Utah Attorney General Thom
Roberts said he last saw Barnard on
Friday, when he dropped off a check
for legal fees from one of Barnard’s
most recent court victories.
Roberts, who faced off against
Barnard in court in numerous cases,
said they talked about gardening and
the civil rights lawyer shared some
dried fruit he’d made.
“He’s really a voice and an advocate
for individual rights and for
calling on government to think about
what it’s doing when it interacts
with citizens in the way they run
their daily life,” Roberts told FOX
13.
Barnard leaves behind a brother in
Texas, his clinic said. He was not
married.
Gollan said he planned to continue
the Utah Legal Clinic’s work.
Andrea Emmett More looks
on as Brian Barnard speaks at a Utah Atheist's brunch in 2002.
Photo @com (c)
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