We were lucky to catch up with Brian Vukadinovich recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brian , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
In September 1981 I was falsely arrested and brutalized by police in Valparaiso Indiana in a case of mistaken identity. I was falsely charged when the police realized they had the wrong person and rather than let me go with an apology, they decided to file a false charge against me in order to justify what they did to me. After a trial the judge found me not guilty and chastised the Valparaiso police for what they did to me. I received an out of court settlement for the false arrest and brutality and the nightmare then began as I was thereafter falsely arrested and brutalized several times by the Valparaiso Indiana police in retaliation for standing up to them. Things escalated to a high level when other surrounding police agencies decided to enter the fray and take me down for standing up to police corruption. It was very expensive fighting back and I started to realize that my lawyer was involved with some very questionable things in the background in terms of playing both sides in his representation of me. I learned that he wasn’t acting in my best interests and was actually being somewhat helpful to the police in terms of not presenting legal arguments that needed to be presented. I fired him and decided to represent myself from that point on. It was a very risky decision, but one that I felt I had to make. I started representing myself and was able to successfully have several bogus criminal cases dismissed that were wrongfully filed against me. The cases were cases that sat there for long periods of time and the lawyer did nothing to have them dismissed, but after I fired the lawyer I was able to have the cases dismissed by representing myself without a lawyer. It was risky, but I am very glad I made the decision to represent myself. I was a public school teacher at the time and the false arrests took their toll on my teaching career as well. In 2012 I lost my teaching job with the Hanover Community School Corporation in Cedar Lake, Indiana and again represented myself when I filed a case in federal court against the public school corporation employer which resulted in a five day jury trial in March 2016 when I was able to win the trial and beat the corporation and its team of lawyers. The federal jury awarded me six figures in damages because of the public school corporation’s violation of my due process rights when it took my job from me. I have learned from personal experience that lawyers cannot be trusted and that I was much better off representing myself in court.
Brian , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
After experiencing a great deal of unfairness and injustice by corrupt police and employers who allowed themselves to be influenced by lawyers who were on a mission to take me down because of my stands against unfairness and corruption issues, I have done a lot of work in educating the public about how unfair people are being treated by government agencies and even the judicial system. I have written extensively and done numerous television, radio and podcast interviews about judicial unfairness and corruption issues in our country. I have written two books “Motion for Justice: I Rest My Case” (2018) and “Rogues in Black Robes” (2023). I was invited to speak to a Yale Law School Class after winning the federal jury trial by representing myself and I was invited to speak at the 2022 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration event hosted by Indiana University Social Justice Conference where my presentation was titled “Standing Up for One’s Civil Rights by Brian Vukadinovich”. I have been a featured guest on the television program Pro Se Nation based in Princeton, New Jersey where I spoke about how I successfully represented myself in the five day civil rights federal jury trial in March 2016 against my former public school corporation employer. On March 7, 2024 I spoke at the Vigo County Public Library in Terre Haute, Indiana about my experiences in fighting against corrupt police actions that were filed against me and about how unfair and unjust people are treated by government agencies and the judiciary. Many of my writings and interviews may be seen on my website www.brianvukadinovich.com. I think it is very important for the public to know about how unfair people are being treated by government agencies and the courts, and how important it is to educate oneself when dealing with unjust issues that have been brought your way in order that the people will know how to handle things in terms of fighting back and also knowing how lawyers operate and what to look out for. I think it is also important for people to know just how unfair and corrupt the judiciary is and the importance for much needed judicial reforms in our country.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In September 1981 I was falsely arrested and brutalized by Valparaiso Indiana police in a case of mistaken identity. After I was found not guilty of the bogus charges I sued and received an out of court settlement and then one of the same officers who was involved in the false arrest and brutality again falsely arrested and brutalized me, and again I sued and won an out of court settlement. I then found myself with a target on my back and couldn’t go to the grocery store without getting arrested for one ridiculous thing or another even after consistently having the bogus charges dismissed or being acquitted at a jury trial. I decided it was important to fight back, and I did so. I learned how expensive it is to receive so called “justice” and after I learned how greedy lawyers operate in taking one’s money and sitting back and not doing much of anything, I decided to learn the law and represent myself and was successful in having several bogus criminal charges dismissed and I won a federal civil rights jury trial in March 2016 by representing myself against my former public school corporation employer and its team of lawyers when a federal jury in a five day jury trial awarded me six figures for the corporation’s violation of my due process rights when it terminated my employment. It is very important for people to be resilient and vigilant in standing up for their civil rights.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I learned through personal experience that unfortunately you can’t trust your own lawyer. After several false arrests that I went through in Indiana with police who were determined to bring me down in retaliation for standing up to them and beating them in court for their false arrests, I learned that my own lawyer was involved in the shenanigans by sitting back and doing nothing and allowing several false charges to sit there against me for lengthy periods of time. I decided to do some legal research on my own and learned that there was a law on the books in Indiana where after a certain period of time goes by if a person is not brought to trial that the charges must be dismissed. When I learned of this law, I confronted my lawyer with it and he chose to get cute with me and play games with it and refused to acknowledge that law. I told him that I expected him to file the necessary motions to dismiss the bogus charges and he refused to do so. I told him that if he didn’t do so that I would go ahead and file the motions to dismiss the bogus charges. He didn’t like hearing that and told me that I was not to file the motions. I then fired him on the spot and the following day I filed motions to dismiss each of the bogus charges and the judge shortly thereafter granted each of my motions and dismissed each of the bogus criminal charges against me. The lesson I learned is that you can’t trust lawyers and that I was much better off representing myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brianvukadinovich.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/motionforjustice
- Twitter: @motion4justice