The man who Hudson police shot on Aug. 7 after he brandished a hammer and, according to a city news release, “aggressively confronted” police, practiced as a criminal defense lawyer and later had trouble with the law himself.
Carlos Warner worked as an assistant federal public defender with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Ohio from 2005 to 2020, and before that, with the Cuyahoga County Public Defender’s Office, said Michael Goldberg, Warner’s attorney.
Warner has wounds to the head and torso, said Goldberg, partner at Goldberg Dowell & Associates in Cleveland.
Goldberg said Warner is expected to live but that Goldberg is not sure whether Warner will make a full recovery.
Warner represented clients from Northeast Ohio to Guantanamo Bay
Goldberg said he has heard from former colleagues of Warner’s, “not only wishing well, but willing to do whatever they can do to help Carlos.”
“When he was practicing with the public defender’s office, he was a very highly regarded public defender,” Goldberg said. “He was handling the most difficult cases and was a source of assistance for other lawyers handling cases in federal court. People went to him for advice and guidance, and he was, in my mind, an example of what a public defender should be — absolutely dedicated to his clients, no matter what they were accused of, and represented their rights to the fullest degree like he was an uncompromising advocate for the accused. And I really admired him.”
Warner entered private practice after he left the public defender’s office, Goldberg said.
In his work with the U.S. public defender’s office, Warner traveled dozens of times to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where he represented prisoners. He also represented clients accused of various crimes, including bank robbery, creating counterfeit bills and identity theft.
Warner attended law school at the University of Akron, according to the Supreme Court of Ohio’s attorney directory and the Beacon Journal.
A Hudson Police officer works a scene at a duplex on the corner of Stoney Hill Drive and Darrow Road, near the location of a police shooting, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Hudson, Ohio.
Complaint filed against Warner same day as shooting
The Ohio Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a complaint against Warner on Aug. 7, the same day he was shot by Hudson police.
Goldberg represented Warner in criminal cases in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court (transferred from Rocky River Municipal Court) and Shaker Heights Municipal that were later referenced in the Office of Disciplinary Counsel complaint, according to Goldberg and public records.
The complaint alleges misconduct by Warner, who has not had an active attorney’s license since September 2023.
In 2020, Warner was pulled over by police, who accused him of possessing drug paraphernalia, per the complaint.
Stephen Newman, the federal public defender for Northern Ohio and Warner’s superior, suspended Warner from duty with pay after Newman received an anonymous email about Warner’s charge, the complaint said. Warner received inpatient mental health treatment in 2020 at the same time as Newman planned to fire Warner. Warner resigned after he was discharged from treatment.
The complaint alleges Warner then engaged in harassment and stalking of Newman. In 2022, the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court granted Newman a civil stalking protection order against Warner.
The court found that Warner “imparted mental distress on Newman and his family members and knowingly engaged in a pattern of conduct that caused Newman to believe that (Warner) will cause physical harm or caused or will cause mental distress to Newman and his family.”
Warner’s threats against Newman allegedly continued, per the complaint, which stated that Warner posted on Facebook “Steve Newman-I am coming for you,” along with verbal attacks against Newman’s family.
In 2023, Shaker Heights Municipal Court found Warner guilty of physically offensive disorderly conduct and in violation of his probation.
Of the Aug. 7 shooting, Newman said, “I’m shocked, and I’m sorry that this happened to Carlos.”
Hudson police on the scene Aug. 7, 2025, after an apparent police shooting. BCI is investigating the incident.
Further, the complaint alleged, Warner threatened to kill the boss of an escort whom he met through an app called Tryst.
While in jail, Warner smashed the jail phone receiver, shattered the handset and tore down the shower curtain.
Warner then received further treatment for mental health issues.
He was then accused of looking through the windows of the escort, per the complaint, which identified her as “T.H.”
In July 2024, Warner pleaded guilty in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to one count of attempted vandalism, one count of criminal damaging, one count of aggravated menacing, three counts of telecommunications harassment, one count of menacing by stalking and one count of violating a protection order, per the complaint.
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X @pwilliamsOH. Sign up for the Beacon Journal’s business and consumer newsletter, “What’s The Deal?“
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Man recovering from being shot by Hudson police was defense attorney