SALINE CO. – On his way out the door, Benton attorney Bryan Drew left the public a little gift: He made sure that a file ordinarily kept under seal was place in the open in the case of one of his clients, which gives people insight into what’s been going on with it.
Or at least, that’s the way it appears.
Drew, in May and after yet another loss in court, filed a motion to withdraw as counsel for former doctor, Brian T. Burns, 58, after Drew got Burns unsuccessfully through his Kidnaping trial May 10-12.
Burns was convicted of the charge, which alleged that he had hired a man to kidnap the late Mike Henshaw, then-Saline County State’s Attorney, in September of 2016 in order to “persuade” Henshaw to dismiss the charges against Burns in a case filed earlier in the year – Murder of his wife, Carla Burns, at their home in rural Saline County.
Burns had already gone through the services of Marion attorney Nick Brown from Lawler Law Office when he decided to go with Drew about a month after he was charged with the kidnapping counts.
Burns attempted to set up the kidnapping from the jail in Saline County, where he had been sitting since he was charged in March of 2016 with shooting his wife, dismembering her, and burning the body in a fire pit at their Baker Lane residence, located in the Walnut Grove area of the county.
Drew took on that case after the kidnapping charge was filed, however, and his workload increased considerably when that happened.
Following the kidnapping conviction in mid-May, Burns was set for sentencing on July 25.
Instead of proceeding to sentencing, however, in a move that appears to have been carefully constructed in order to delay things, Drew filed a Motion to Withdraw as counsel in the case on July 10.
Citing “a breakdown in communication between the defendant (Burns) and Drew & Drew,” they “mutually decided they will no longer represent” Burns in the case.
So instead of having a sentencing hearing on the 25th, Judge Walden Morris had little option but to grant Drew’s motion to withdraw, and he gave Burns another 21 days to find an attorney, since one needed to be present for the sentencing.
As of press time (July 30), it didn’t appear that that had been accomplished yet.
However, for whatever reason, it appears that Drew has caused to have placed (or didn’t argue successfully against it having been placed) on file in the open a presentencing investigation report, something that’s rarely done, as PSIs are for the most part placed under seal in a file.
Sometimes, attorneys will have items that are supposed to be kept under seal admitted as exhibits in cases, often to give themselves some kind of advantage against an opposing party, sometimes to make the media aware of something they wouldn’t ordinarily be aware of.
Whatever the case, there it all is, in Drew’s file, for the next attorney to try and sort out.
Along with a complete outline of the allegations and circumstances surrounding the kidnapping plot of which Burns has now been convicted, the PSI contains a huge amount of material concerning Burns’ past, as well as job history…which is the part that is extremely revealing.
It would appear as though Burns’ background is either a hard trail to pick up and follow, or fraught with problems.
An example of this would be an entry under “education comments,” wherein a description was given of his “three-year” residency at Texas A&M University in Temple, Texas.
While verification of Burns’ residency there was given (for family medicine from July 1, 2006 to May 9, 2008, so actually less than two years), sources there indicated to Saline County that Burns was placed on probation and then fired for lack of professionalism, poor performance, and lying.
Other issues came up with verifying employment that Burns claimed in his history.
An example of this would be from a location in Lansing, Michigan, where apparently Burns claimed to have been an employee through the State of Michigan Civil Service Commission; they submitted that there was “no record of the person listed” when they returned an inquiry to Saline County.
Employment verification from Choctaw Health Center in Choctaw, Mississippi, noted that Burns “did not get along with some of the patients and staff members for no apparent reason,” and his reason for termination was “his request for pay raise was denied and his wife did not like the town.”
After that, he came to McLeansboro to work at the hospital there, Hamilton Memorial, in 2012.
There, they report, he left in September of 2014 after the service agreement between doctor and hospital was terminated; however, they reported sub-par work on his part: His quality of work, as well as attendance/dependability, were both termed “fair,” and as to the question of “did he get along well with others,” one notation was made: “poor.”
Burns was working as a hospitalist (a doctor treating only those hospitalized) for Morthland in Franklin County when he was arrested in March of 2016. There didn’t appear to have been any complaints from that hospital.
Grades on file from Maryville High School in Maryville, Tennessee (where Burns’ parents were both in the medical field) show inferior work as well. The only A grades appearing on Burns’ card came from Geography; everything else was B (Biology, Physical Education and Business) and Cs and Ds in everything else…including two failed classes, Algebra and Spanish (despite the fact that he attended medical school in Guadalajara, Mexico.)
Perhaps amongst the most bizarre notations in the file come from Burns himself.
Under “defendant’s version of petition charging violation of probation,” Burns said that he had, in 1982, been charged in Crockett County, Tennessee for “some type of theft charge.”
When Saline’s probation department checked with the Alamo Police Department in Tennessee, they advised that he had been charged with Grand Larceny in 1982.
However, when the circuit clerk in Crockett County was called, they advised that they had no record of the offense in Burns’ name, therefore, there was no record available as to what Burns stole, from where, how much, or how it was resolved.
An extensive amount of paperwork regarding Burns’ physical health history was on file. As it turned out, he did indeed have some bouts of skin cancer, which he ostensibly used last year to attempt to have bail reduced so he could make bond and seek treatment.
Instead, he was able to receive treatment on the taxpayer’s dime, this after he was moved to Jackson County Jail in Murphysboro, since he wasn’t going to be housed in Saline after utilizing the jail/an inmate there to get involved in the kidnapping plot.
And while all of this is as enlightening as it is disturbing, it’s likely not going to have any impact whatsoever on his sentencing, since the bulk of the file contains effectively every step law enforcement and confidential informants took in ensuring that every word Burns said of the kidnapping plot was caught on audio.
Burns is set for an August 29 sentencing in the kidnapping, and a January 17 jury trial date on the murder case.