Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar changed legal counsel after new information was revealed late last week about a possible payment allegedly made at attorney Michael Grieco’s office.
Grieco and Michael Weinstein have withdrawn from Dunbar’s council, according to court records. Andrew Rier and Jonathan Jordan of Rier Jordan will now represent Dunbar as he faces four counts of armed robbery in an May 13 incident in Miramar, Florida.
“We have agreed that the new counsel would continue to defend Mr. Dunbar’s innocence without any collateral distraction,” his decision to withdraw from the case told ESPN on Monday.
Dunbar’s new attorneys on Sunday filed a notice of appearance and a notice of participation in Discovery requesting all the necessary information from the state for the case.
The change was made just days after evidence obtained by the New York Daily News from a search warrant indicated that the witness in the alleged robbery, Dominique Johnson, had supervised a payment to victims at the office from Grieco. The warrant noted video footage and direct messages as evidence. The four alleged victims signed affidavits shortly after retracting their original stories.
The Miami Herald then reported over the weekend that, last month, Grieco was under criminal investigation.
Grieco responded to the Daily News report this weekend.
“Law enforcement agencies, local and federal, have been informed from day one and beyond that the alleged” victims “in this case are actively extorting [DeAndre] Baker and Dunbar, “he told the Seattle Times.” The men fabricated a story of theft after waiting an hour to call the police, and immediately started contacting the players asking for money.
“My office obtained accurate and truthful affidavits consistent with the independent testimony and the account of my client. These “victims” are seasoned career criminals who have been arrested and / or convicted of crimes ranging from conspiracy to commit murder to trafficking in human beings, to the filing of a false police report. Mr. Dunbar took and passed a polygraph confirming that he did not participate in or assist in any theft. “
Baker, a cornerback for the New York Giants, also faces four counts of armed robbery and four counts of aggravated assault with a gun from the incident. Her lawyer, Bradford Cohen, told ESPN over the weekend that no payment or offer of money had been made from Baker.
.
