A professional left-wing activist and trust fund heir who joined Columbia University students in storming and occupying a university building last April also has an active law license in New York, records show. He's set to keep it, too, even if he's convicted on the charge he's facing, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
James Carlson, who also goes by Cody, burned an Israeli flag, violently stormed Columbia's Hamilton Hall, clashed with a facilities worker, and allegedly broke a police camera while detained. He was arrested on April 20 on a misdemeanor arson charge and again on April 30, the day that New York City police swept Columbia and cleared Hamilton Hall, for burglary, a felony in New York.
By the time Carlson and other Hamilton Hall arrestees attended their June court hearings, however, the Manhattan district attorney's office—led by Alvin Bragg—opted to pursue a reduced charge against Carlson: criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor. As a result, Carlson, a trust fund kid who specializes in animal rights law and lists his $2.3 million Brooklyn townhouse on his active New York attorney registration, faces little risk of losing his license.
Under New York law, a felony conviction is automatic grounds for disbarment. Because Bragg's office only pursued a misdemeanor charge against Carlson, the protester doesn't face that risk. A misdemeanor trespassing conviction could prompt a disciplinary hearing but would not automatically trigger one.
Carlson did not respond to a request for comment. The State of New York Grievance Committee, which handles attorney complaints, referred the Free Beacon to the Office of the Clerk of the Court, which said Carlson "is currently licensed and in good standing."
When Carlson appeared in court in June, he rejected a plea deal for the misdemeanor trespassing charge that would have resulted in community service and instead pleaded not guilty. He still faces that charge, though court records no longer list his misdemeanor arson charge, a Free Beacon review found, suggesting that Bragg's office dropped it.
Bragg's office also dropped trespassing charges against 30 other Columbia protesters arrested for storming Hamilton Hall, arguing that the defendants should not face criminal penalties due to a lack of evidence, a lack of criminal history, and impending internal discipline at Columbia.
A high-ranking police source described Carlson—the son of the late prominent advertising executives Richard Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow—as a "longtime anarchist," the New York Post reported in early May. In 2019, he bought a three-story townhouse in Brooklyn's Park Slope for $2.3 million thanks to his parents.
Carlson is not representing himself in his misdemeanor trespassing case, though his attorney shares many of his radical sensibilities.
That attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, who uses "they/them" pronouns, describes herself as an "educator, attorney, and abolitionist." Her work, she says, focuses on criminal defense "for those arrested in the course of justice struggles."
Meltzer-Cohen represented Chelsea, formerly Bradley, Manning, the former soldier who was convicted of violating the Espionage Act after providing WikiLeaks with nearly 750,000 documents, including classified and sensitive records. In a glowing review, Manning said Meltzer-Cohen "remains one of my closest and most trusted friends and advisors."
Meltzer-Cohen also represented a Hunter College arts professor who threatened to "chop" a New York Post reporter with a machete; a woman who allegedly vandalized the house of a Jewish Brooklyn Museum leader with what authorities call "a symbol used by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets"; and a man accused of elbowing a New York City police officer in the head, leaving a gash, during a protest.
Carlson's arrest history dates back to 2005, when he was charged in San Francisco for participating in the violent "West Coast Anti-Capitalist Mobilization and March Against the G8," the New York Post reported. Protesters at that time nearly killed a police officer after cracking his skull and tried to set a squad car on fire, according to the Post.
Carlson was charged with with suspicion of attempted lynching, malicious mischief, battery on a police officer, aggravated assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon, and willful resistance to a police officer that resulted in serious bodily injury. Those charges were dropped in 2007, CNN reported.