NY- Lolita lawyer James Colliton earned big bucks working for a white-shoe firm, but he may not have enough green to keep his defense attorney.
The legal lecher accused of having sex with two underage girls allegedly pimped by their mother was back in court yesterday amid questions about whether he will have to find a new lawyer.
Colliton, 41, who is charged with bedding two underage sisters and paying them and their mother, has been in jail without bail since last week.
Colliton was supposed to make a pitch for bail yesterday, but his lawyer, Alan Abramson, told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon that issue had to be delayed until Colliton determines how much he can pay an attorney.
“He has to evaluate his resources,” Abramson said of his client who, until he was fired last week, earned a reported $500,000 a year as a tax lawyer for Manhattan-based Cravath Swaine & Moore, one of the biggest law firms in the nation.
In response to questions from Solomon, Abramson said it was not clear whether he would remain on the case, or if Colliton, who has a wife, five children and a house in upstate Poughkeepsie, would get a new lawyer.
When Assistant District Attorney Ann Donnelly asked the judge if he was thinking about giving Colliton a court-appointed lawyer, Solomon made it clear he was not.
There was no sign of any family members in court for Colliton, who wore the same clothes as when he was arrested Friday but looked considerably thinner.
Colliton, who tried to flee to Canada last month and was freed because of a paperwork snafu, was nabbed in an East Village hotel when the desk clerk recognized his photo in the Daily News and called cops.
Authorities said he has been held in protective custody on Rikers Island.
Solomon said no matter who Colliton has for a lawyer, one thing is for sure: he is getting a new judge. He told all parties to appear in court tomorrow before Supreme Court Justice Daniel FitzGerald.