Lawyer Arrested on Drug Charges

An attorney who showed up in court with a barefoot witness and a bizarre tale was arrested on drug charges after sheriff’s deputies found pills and bindles of rock cocaine during a search.

Thomas Grimes, 45, appeared lethargic and disoriented as he stood before Superior Court Judge John Fisher, trying to postpone a case involving a client accused of possessing bomb-making materials, police and prosecutors said.

Earlier, the court clerk received two calls--one from Grimes’ secretary advising the court that he would be late and another from a man saying he was having difficulty getting Grimes out of bed.

Although he was acting strangely, Grimes “was dressed in a nice navy-blue suit,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard F. Walmark, the prosecutor in the case Grimes was to defend.

Fisher ordered Grimes to submit to a urine test after the lawyer claimed to have been involved in a fight with his investigator, who Grimes alleged stole his case file. Grimes produced a barefoot woman as his witness, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Danette Meyers, who also was in court at the time.

Grimes agreed to the judge’s request to provide a urine sample at the Van Nuys station nearby and at some point allowed deputies to search him. They found three small, white “rocks” of suspected cocaine and a large number of pills, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Grimes was booked on suspicion of possessing and being under the influence of a controlled substance. His case will be handled by the LAPD, authorities said.

Walmark said he is unsure what will happen today, when Grimes’ client appears in Fisher’s courtroom for trial.

“What do you say in one of these things?” Walmark asked. “That the client is out of custody, but counsel is in custody?”