ChudTheBuilder's Lawyer says he gets angry calls and emails for taking the racist streamer as a client.
ChudTheBuilder’s defense attorney, Jake Fendley, has come out saying his office has been the victim of harassment since taking the streamer on as a client and defends himself.
ChudTheBuilder’s Defense Attorney Called Racist
Dalton Eatherly, known online as ChudTheBuilder is currently in jail until his bond hearing on May 21, for shooting a man in front of the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, Tennessee on May 13. His bail was set at $1.25 million, which he has not yet posted.
His defense attorney is Jake Fendley of the Fendley & Birch law firm based in Clarksville, Tennessee. In a statement, he recently opened up about “hateful phone calls and emails” his office had been receiving since taking Eatherly as his client. He wrote:
My entire firm is being called ‘racist'. I am disappointed, given my history and dedication to my clients, which includes people of all skin colors.
These allegations of racism he seems to have received likely stem from association with the streamer. ChudTheBuilder is a more than controversial figure online due to his offensive streams. He regularly broadcasted himself harassing members of the public, trying to provoke them to fight and shouting racial slurs at people of color. People now seem to think if you choose to defend such a man, you support him or have to be racist yourself.
It seems that now that some of the people, who we have so fervently defended, now turn against one of its defenders because we are not afraid to stand up and represent someone who is unpopular.
Fendley tries to paint himself as the hero. But the problem is not that Eatherly is unpopular, it is that he is racist and Fendley still decided to defend him – especially after the Public Defender withdrew due to ChudTheBuilders reputation.
I came to represent Mr. Eatherly after the Public Defender of our District filed a Motion to Withdraw. In this Motion it was alleged that the private bar, of which I am a member, lacked the fortitude to represent Mr. Eatherly due to his unpopularity. I decided to prove him wrong.
The attorney fights back against the racism claims against himself by telling some of his family's history with people of color. He claims his role as a defense attorney is "to represent people regardless of their race, religion, ideology, or allegations against them."
He himself condemns racism.
This entire case is disturbing. Racism is a terrible thing, and it’s a flawed method of thinking.
He concludes his statement with theatrical words:
When I have been chosen to defend a fellow citizen, I will not back down. I will not cower in the face of adversity. I will not be silenced by popular opinion. It is a right entitled to each one of us by the Constitution. I will fight for the people of our nation until I cannot fight anymore.
The controversy surrounding ChudTheBuilder has now grown beyond the streamer himself and spilled over onto everyone connected to the case, including his attorney. It highlights a difficult tension at the core of the justice system: defending someone in court is not the same as endorsing their beliefs or actions, yet that distinction is becoming increasingly blurred. For many people, ChudTheBuilder’s repeated racist behavior and violent controversies make him dangerous for a legal team choosing to represent him. Because of exactly that: they chose to represent a racist man. At the same time, the principle that even the most hated defendants deserve legal representation remains a fundamental part of the judicial system. The case has therefore evolved into something larger than just one streamer’s criminal charges, sparking a moral debate. It has become a reflection of the polarity of a lawyer not having to endorse or support their clients beliefs to take them and the morality behind which clients to take. But whatever you may think about Fendley taking the case, harassment is not the answer.
