I left this as a comment in C&J, and was encouraged to diary it as, if nothing else, a bit of Plame-related trivia - not, mind you, that this story is at all trivial to those directly involved. [See update at bottom]
In Monterey, California, attorney Paul Sanford has died in what police have ruled a suicide.
In what police describe as a "probable" suicide leap, a prominent Monterey Bay Area attorney fell at least nine floors to his death at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay in Seaside the morning before Christmas.
Further details and the Plame connection below the fold.
This story bothers me for a number of reasons. First, Sanford didn't seem a likely candidate for suicide:
Friends and associates expressed disbelief at the news of Sanford's death and that it was ruled a suicide, saying Sanford seemed happy and had made many plans for this week and in coming months.
[snip]
"I'm at a loss for words," said Sanford's friend and business associate, Monterey attorney Shawn Mills.
[snip]
"This is a horrible thing for his family. He would never have intentionally put his family through that trauma. Something's not right, it doesn't make sense."
A commenter rightly noted that suicides often seem happier once they have decided to kill themselves, and make "plans" to throw off suspicion from family and friends. However, that does not seem to be the case with Sanford; those who knew him describe him as being the same as ever, not happier than usual. He had a number of plans, yes, but that was par for the course for Sanford; as you'll see below, having a lot of irons in the fire was his usual modus operandi.
The circumstances around Sanford's death also do not immediately point to suicide:
Police said that before Sanford fell, hotel housekeepers saw him pacing the hallway of an upper floor. Cercone said Sanford's car was parked next to the hotel, and he was not checked in as a guest.
Police declined to state exactly why they ruled the case a suicide.
I'm no expert on suicides, but it looks more as though Sanford was waiting to meet someone. If he had been planning to kill himself - which, again, there are no signs of - I think he would have been more likely to rent a room for himself, and avoided drawing attention to himself in a way that might have interfered with his plans.
So what does this have to do with the Plame case? As I mentioned, the article describes Sanford's numerous occupations: working as a criminal defense attorney, teaching, mentoring, hosting several independent radio shows, advocating for the homeless, arguing for separation of church and state before the Supreme Court, and volunteering for community organizations. But he also became a journalist, and made his mark there as well:
Almost immediately, he caused a stir after he joined the White House Press Corps in 2005, making waves as the first reporter to ask then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan whether the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name might be considered an act of treason. [emphasis added]
Obviously, there could be any number of reasons why this guy is dead, and it's unlikely to be connected to the Plame case. But bottom line, it seems that Paul Sanford was clearly one of the good guys, a troublemaker in the best sense of the word, and it's not at all clear that his death was actually a suicide. So for that reason, if no other, I'd like to see some follow-up on this.
Update: A reader (who doesn't have a dKos account yet) sent me the following information via email, which adds to my sense that something doesn't line up about Sanford's death:
I stay at that hotel all the time. It sounds like he jumped [sic] inside the atrium to me. Either way, that hotel has 12 floors - wouldn't a jumper would go to the top instead of just the 9th floor. Also, in the Atrium, most places where you would jump from would carry pretty good risk of either landing on someone who walked out from the underneath something (coming from the lobby, the pool, a conference room...), or into shallow water, or onto tables.
Two things about this strike me - first, Sanford seems to have been someone who cared a lot about others, and secondly, his friend Shawn Mills describes him as someone who didn't like to draw attention to himself. So on both counts, it seems really unlikely, even if he had wanted to commit suicide, that he would have chosen to do so in such a public way, and a way that would have a good chance of also hurting or killing another person.