Judge calls for Del Norte D.A. to be disbarred

Del Norte County's unconventional district attorney, a recovered methamphetamine addict who was elected in 2010 on a "death to meth" platform, faces disbarment from law practice after a State Bar judge found Friday that he had talked to a defendant without her lawyer's consent and then lied about it.

District Attorney Jon Alexander's unethical and dishonest conduct, his continued insistence that he did nothing wrong, and his long record of previous disciplinary violations have "harmed the public and the administration of justice," said Lucy Armendariz, a judge on the State Bar Court in San Francisco.

She ordered Alexander suspended from law practice while he appeals the disbarment, first to a review panel of the bar and, if unsuccessful there, to the state Supreme Court. According to published reports, he would be the first district attorney in California to be disbarred.

Alexander issued a statement blaming his "persecution" on "liars, defeated opponents and discredited attorneys."

Alexander has been a lawyer in California since 1987 and was a public defender in the North Coast county before his election as its top prosecutor. Three months after taking office in 2011, he was suspended for 60 days by the state Supreme Court for a variety of past misconduct, including incompetent performance and improper communication with a judge in a pending case. He is still on professional probation for those violations.

He had also been suspended for six months by the state Supreme Court in 2003 for practicing law after failing to pay his bar dues, and was privately reprimanded by the State Bar Court in 1996 after two convictions for driving with a suspended license.

In the current case, Armendariz said, Michelle Taylor, charged in May 2011 with drug possession and sale, went to Alexander's office two months later to talk about the case. Rather than halting the conversation after he learned she had a lawyer, Armendariz said, Alexander questioned Taylor and was told the drugs belonged to her and not to a man who was arrested with her.

He did not tell Taylor's lawyer or a lawyer for her male friend, who was arrested after a hearing in which Alexander remained silent, Armendariz said. Taylor, however, had secretly recorded the conversation, and her friend was freed after his lawyer obtained the tape.

Alexander then falsely declared, under oath, that he had immediately reported his discussions with Taylor to her lawyer, Armendariz said. She said his conduct, when revealed, damaged "the reputation of the district attorney's office and the public's trust in the justice system."

Alexander has said Taylor barged into his office unannounced, secretly wearing a wire, and he tried to talk her into entering drug treatment.

Numerous local public officials and community leaders praised Alexander's character and his work for drug programs. Armendariz said his supporters did not appear to understand the seriousness of his misconduct.