July 21/2022 Lindsay Buziak Murder, Victoria’s deep pockets and it’s long reach to underworld connections
Well, if some of us Victorians were not familiar with the name Michael Scherr before, we certainly are now.
This man is the prominent litigation/media lawyer who has boldly stepped forward to represent realtor Shirley Zailo in her defamation civil action lawsuit against the father of young Lindsay Buziak, a young woman who was brutally murdered on February 2nd 2008. In order to achieve maximum media coverage for his client, Scherr recently jumped at the opportunity to appear on CHEK TV News. It was a concerted effort on his part to promote the civil lawsuit for his client Ms. Zailo and publicly humiliate and destroy a man who has endured fourteen years of hell while fighting for justice for his daughter Lindsay.
Where does the hell end and the justice begin? When is enough enough? When will the culprits who planned, orchestrated, and committed this heinous murder be brought to justice? Over a period of years, since this investigation began in February 2008, the Saanich Police, Victoria Police, RCMP, VIIMCU, and the FBI have all at one time or another been involved in the case. Yet here we are fourteen years later with no arrests. Now we are going to condemn a father who has spent the last fourteen years of his life in a quest to find justice for his daughter? This is the insanity that not only Lindsay Buziak’s family has suffered, but numerous families who still await justice for their murdered love ones while police agencies all over the province do not appear to have the capabilities or resources to chase down murderers and bring them to justice.
Then along comes a powerful litigation lawyer who thinks he can ride in on his horse and esteemed reputation
and convince the world that his client has suffered a terrible injustice. Michael Scherr states that Ms. Zailo has suffered loss and damage to her reputation, loss of income, stress, anxiety and other mental suffering. Excuse me sir, are you daring to compare the hell your client has suffered to the hell Lindsay’s family has endured these past fourteen years? If your client Ms. Zailo and her boys had stepped forward after the murder to help Jeff Buziak the outcome would surely have been very different. Instead, they chose to not cooperate, to not help in any way, and refused to meet/talk or answer any questions this grieving father asked of them. Now Ms. Zailo seeks the sympathy of the public and expects them to support what she is doing? As for a loss of income, we will anxiously await to see the evidence of such a claim.
Mr. Scherr, you told the press that for the longest time Ms. Zailo didn’t want to commence a defamation lawsuit against someone who lost their daughter but all her efforts to have Jeff Buziak stop were rebuffed or ignored. That’s interesting sir, because in 2019, Ms. Zailo approached three different civil litigation lawyers, all who refused to take her case. You say that Shirley Zailo attempted many times to have Jeff Buziak stop allowing posters to call her a murderer, narcissist etc. Do you have this in writing Mr. Scherr? Of course you don’t because Ms. Zailo never once sent correspondence to Lindsay’s father asking him to stop allowing posts that defamed her character.
You claim that Jeff Buziak encouraged his posters to say Ms. Zailo was a narcissist, and a murderer. Where is your evidence to support this statement? Until the civil action was filed & made public Jeff Buziak may or may not have even know who the co-defendants were. You appeared on CHEK News saying that two women accused your client Ms. Zailo of killing someone, yet this has not yet been proven in a court of law. You did not have the right to make such a statement to the press. Hundreds of posters have visited that site over the years expressing their opinions, all of them frustrated that this murder has not been solved. It’s called Freedom of Speech.
Until there are arrests everyone is a suspect.
The Lindsay blog is not responsible for the tarnished reputation of your client.
Ms. Zailo pointing the finger at Lindsay’s ex-boyfriend Matt MacDuff and the lies her son Jason told on the Dateline show did considerable damage to their reputation and shed some darkness onto both of their characters. Millions of viewers tuned in to the 2010 Dateline Dream House Mystery segment and came to their own conclusion about the guilt and innocence of those that participated on the show. Since that time there have been a multitude of YouTube videos, podcasts and blogs, that have cast doubt on the Zailo family’s credibility. What did they do about all of those other perpetrators? Absolutely nothing.
It is a rare occurrence that a lawyer will make a public appearance on behalf of his client, especially when the case has not yet been heard in the courts. Under the glare of the public eye, a lawyer acts not only as an advocate for his client but as a representative of the profession as a whole. That lawyer must have a clear appreciation of their legal and professional responsibilities. Michael Scherr was in a position to to explain and exemplify how lawyers defend individual rights, liberties, and the rule of law in our democratic society. However, he does not have the right to scandalize the defendants before the case has been heard in a court of law. Pitfalls await a brazen lawyer who stands, with measured indignity, and publicly addresses the media and publicly slams the accused before they have a chance to defend themselves in a court of law. It would be interesting to know what the Law Society of BC would make of this behaviour.
Michael SCHERR would have explained the full ramifications to his client before speaking with the press, and he would have needed Ms. Zailo’s permission before making any public disclosures of confidentiality. Shirley Zailo went full steam ahead, confident that her going public would destroy Lindsay’s father reputation in the public eye. Unfortunately her strategic maneuver was unsuccessful and the backlash hit hard. Social media platforms such as Vibrant Victoria, What the hell just happened in Victoria, and other sites were inundated with irate posters who came out to express their outrage at what this woman had done. A few weeks later, after hundreds of postings the court of public opinion was in. 95% of the posters supported Jeff Buziak and the other 5% supported Ms. Zailo. What the outcome in a court of law will be is yet to be seen.
https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/Website/media/Shared/docs/practice/resources/policy_social-media.pdf
Then In swoops the MEDIA HUNGRY attention seeking Capital Daily News GULLS who want nothing more than their pound of flesh in this highly driven media frenzy appalling shame/blame game. They were so desperate for a rip-roaring headliner that they never did a deep-dive investigation prior to running their story. If they had, they would have realized there was far more to this mudslinging drama than they could ever know. The Capital Daily News thinks so little of Investigative Journalists here in our own province that they chose to outsource and bring in Investigative Journalist Zander Sherman from Ontario.
Zander Sherman has done some excellent work in his home province of Ontario but he is out of his territory here in BC and this little piece that he obliged the Capital Daily by writing was nowhere close to his normal standards. It was obviously written quickly in order to get it out there before any other media could pick up and perhaps sympathize with Mr. Buziak’s situation but local concerned citizens beat them to the punch on social media.
How embarrassing for the investigative journalists who work for the Capital Daily that they were not asked to write the column. Victoria is filled with credible journalists who know the Lindsay Buziak story and could have done a damn good job of covering it. It was all about the deep pockets and when Ms. Zailo came running to them all they saw was the potential money, fame and glory. How sad, because although many of us were previous supporters of the Capital Daily, we now consider them a disgrace. Their reputation has been severely damaged because of the rushed stance they took without properly investigating.
I’d suggest that everyone head over to the Tyee newspaper if they want to read good honest ethical reporTING.
The Capital Daily News website claims their only goal is to serve democracy and the best interests of the public by publishing truth and promoting the free flow of information, exposing crime and wrong-doing. Their claim to fame is they want to prevent the public from being misled. REALLY?
“We do not give favored treatment to advertisers and special interests. We resist their efforts to influence the news”.
We do not solicit gifts or favors for personal use, and should promptly return unsolicited gifts of more than nominal value”. Our paid members, donors and patrons who have provided financial support to our organization do not have any impact on the stories covered by our editorial team. If our editorial team decides to cover a topic that is related to a financial supporter, the editorial team retains full control of the coverage. REALLY!
As for the aging longhorn cowboy who has retired up around Nanaimo way; you were named as a supporter in Shirley’s case against Mr. Buziak but you might want to be very careful which side of the post you hitch your horse up to. Perhaps you could think about that while you’re in the Sawbuckle Saloon working on your latest murder mystery and backwashing your mug of cold draft. It will be interesting to learn whether or not your retired colleague/friend, Sherry has also been enlisted as a ‘Shirley supporter’ (part of the 5%) in her case against Mr. Buziak.
Email Address: murderondesousa@gmail.com