Attorney accused of hitting fellow attorney in head with Lysol can

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – On the streets is where you typically see crime scene tape, not the hallways of the courthouse.

Blood had to be cleaned from a room in the Hall of Justice after two attorneys got into a fight on Wednesday.

Defense attorneys Lindsey Scott and James Moore got into a fight in a room on the third floor around 8:30 a.m., Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Col. Carl Yates said.

JCSO released video that captured the aftermath of the fight, which shows blood on the floor. Scott is wearing a white suit covered in blood.

Yates said Moore was in the attorney workroom looking over cases when Scott entered the room. Police said there was some sort of altercation and then Scott took a Lysol can and hit Moore in the head.

Moore suffered two to three cuts to his head.

A police report says when sheriff’s deputies got there, Moore was restraining Scott and both were covered in blood. Moore was taken to the hospital, treated and released.

Moore told WAVE 3 News he had to get about a dozen staples for his injuries.

Scott told police he was having chest pains and was taken to the hospital, as well. He was eventually booked into Metro Corrections and charged with assault. He has been released from jail and is expected in court Thursday.

Crews cleaned up the scene shortly after the fight and bolted the attorney workroom door shut.

News of the fight spread quickly in the Hall of Justice. Fellow attorneys said it was shocking because both are well known and well liked.

People waiting to go to court said it was disappointing to see all the commotion.

Moore posted a message to Facebook:

“Today, I was totally blindsided while peacefully eating my breakfast. First thing I felt was a thud. Just a scalp wound. My friends need not be concerned. All concerns should be for my perpetrator. Something is apparently very wrong in his life. He is a good man.”
Attorney James Moore

When WAVE 3 News was at the Hall of Justice, several attorneys told us Scott was at the center of a racially charged, high profile military trial while he was a Marine in the 1980s.

According to WAVE 3 News archives, in 1983 Scott was charged with the rape and attempted murder of a fellow Marine’s wife -- who was white. A military court found him guilty of those charges and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

However, in 1988 those charges were overturned after it was found he received ineffective counsel.

At a second trial, he was exonerated and found not guilty on all counts.

His story was the basis for the 1999 film “Dangerous Evidence: The Lori Jackson Story,” which chronicled the civil rights activist who took up his case.

According to several people, Scott’s experience motivated him to become an attorney.