Sandmann fires high-profile attorney Lin Wood

KENTON COUNTY, Ky. (FOX19/Enquirer) - Nicholas Sandman has terminated attorney L. Lin Wood from his defense team.

Sandmann confirmed news reports of the firing Monday on Twitter.

“Lin Wood has been terminated as council at this time,” Sandmann wrote. “His comments about me are untrue, unfair, and unfounded.”

Wood, a high-profile lawyer based in Atlanta who also represents Kyle Rittenhouse, has come under recent scrutiny for extremist messages allegedly posted on social media.

The Twitter account @ParlerTakes purports to have screenshotted an image of a Parler post made by Wood during the violent Capitol protest: “Get the firing squads ready. [Vice President Mike] Pence goes FIRST.” Sandman later retweeted a quote tweet of the screenshot.

Reuters also reports Wood said Pence engaged in treason and could “face execution by firing squad” for formally recognizing the election victory of President Joe Biden.

On Sunday, Sandman posted a lengthy chat message that appears to have been sent by Wood and that references “politically motivated attacks” against him, including “threats to have me jailed and prosecuted for a rhetorical hyperbolic post about Mike Pence.”

The message goes on to predict Sandman will “abandon” Wood due to outside pressure.

“My family has abandoned me. But I am not alone. I have We The People who have showered me with messages which inspire me and comfort me. In the end, my efforts have always been for We The People. Until and unless they silence me by imprisonment or death, I will not stop fighting (...),” the message reads before listing a number of QAnon conspiracy theories about “evil people in the world - including leaders in our government.”

Apart from Wood’s alleged recent behavior on social media, a report by our media partners at the Enquirer describes a lawsuit against Wood brought by his firm’s former partners alleging “erratic, abusive and unprofessional behavior.”

In the fall of 2019, according to the Enquirer, the lawsuit claims that Wood committed an “assault and battery” on one of the attorneys who went to Wood’s home to check on him.

The lawsuit also describes “incoherent” phone calls, text messages and emails as well as a three-hour teleconference in which Wood “spoke almost nonstop,” “referred to himself as ‘Almighty,’” offered to fight the attorneys “to the death,” and demanded their complete loyalty,” according to the Enquirer.

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Sandman, a Northern Kentucky teen and former Covington Catholic High School student, has sued multiple media outlets for their reporting of an incident in January 2019.

An initial video of the incident outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. showed Sandmann and Nathan Phillips, an indigenous man participating in the Indigenous Peoples March. Sandmann and his classmates were in D.C. for the March For Life.

Other videos later surfaced showing different angles of the encounter.

The complaints reference stories published by the outlets quoting Phillips or citing a quote of his that Sandmann “blocked” or “stopped [Phillips’s] exit.”

Sandmann’s complaints argue Phillips’s statements were false and defamatory, meaning the companies acted negligently, recklessly and with actual malice in publishing them. That is, the companies could have determined Phillips’s statements were false using the other videos and by relying on “reasonable journalistic care,” the complaints argue, and did not.

Sandmann agreed to settlements with CNN in January and with the Washington Post in July.

Lawsuits against NBC, ABC News, CBS News, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Gannett are proceeding.

The media outlets have denied defaming Sandmann in their reporting, according to court documents obtained by Reuters.

Sandmann continues to be represented by Northern Kentucky attorney Todd McMurtry, according to the Enquirer.

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