Lawyer says he'll attend 'charm school,' after reprimand for sexually explicit remarks

Joseph A. Hurley, a prominent Wilmington defense attorney known for his bravado and courtroom theatrics, was disciplined by the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday for making sexually explicit remarks to state prosecutors and for disparaging a former client who had lodged a complaint against him.

Hurley, 75, was ordered by the court to enroll in and pay for a professional training program within six months dealing with "respectful treatment of colleagues and opposing counsel" and "the need to refrain generally from inappropriate discussions of a sexual or religious nature" in his law practice. He also must pay the costs associated with an Office of Disciplinary Counsel investigation against him, which led to the public reprimand.

Court records show that Hurley, who was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1970, was placed on private probation for an undisclosed period in 2013 for violating professional rules related to client fees.

Hurley, who has an adult daughter and lives with a longtime companion, did not respond to a request for comment until Friday — the day after The News Journal posted the story online. He said that the previous probation was for one year and related to him prematurely depositing an extra $237 in client fees into his account.

As a former Delaware deputy attorney general in the 1970s, Hurley said he has enjoyed close friendships with state prosecutors both in and outside the office who understand his "raw racy sexual innuendo humor." He explained that he works into the early morning hours and "sometimes I get delirious."

"I would never say something to hurt somebody deliberately," he said, adding that he plans to attend "charm school" as soon as possible.

In two separate petitions filed in 2016, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, an arm of the Supreme Court that investigates lawyer misconduct, accused Hurley of violating the Delaware Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct.

Specifically, the ODC accused Hurley of making "disparaging or demeaning remarks to and about four different Deputy Attorneys General" in correspondence to the prosecutors, and, in one instance, to the Superior Court. This occurred despite multiple attempts by senior deputy attorneys general to alert Hurley to his "inappropriate and unprofessional correspondence," according to court records.

In 2007, then-State Prosecutor Richard Andrews wrote to Hurley to request that he stop making sexual and disparaging remarks to the deputies, according to the complaint. Hurley responded by accusing the prosecutor of censorship, the complaint said.

While concluding that his "brand of humorous correspondence" was not unethical, Hurley promised to maintain a professional rapport, according to the complaint. Later, he sent a copy of a letter to one of the prosecutors who had complained about him in which he stated that he used to expose himself "to girls using a popcorn box in a movie theater ... ."

Responding to those allegations Friday, Hurley denied sending the letter to the complaining prosecutor. Rather, he said he sent it to another female deputy, a longtime friend, with whom he had exchanged "dirty jokes."

He added that of the 3,200 notes between state prosecutors and himself that he copied in the spirit of transparency for the ODC, "they picked out nine, 11, maybe 12 over nine years." All the correspondence predated the #MeToo Movement around sexual harassment last year, he said, noting that he refused to produce e-mails in which male deputies used uncouth language because he didn't want to get them in trouble.

According to testimony from other deputy attorneys general — all younger and less experienced than Hurley — Hurley suggested that one female had no "brain wave activity" and opined "crudely" about her Valentine's Day plans. He referred to other female deputies as "Kurvacious" and "Kooky" and "another beautiful but arrogant female," the complaint said.

In one instance, a deputy testified that Hurley sent an email to a Superior Court Commissioner in response to the deputy's request for a continuance because of a teaching commitment.

"Beyond [yoga], I cannot fathom anything where she would have sufficient expertise to teach," Hurley wrote, according to court records.

In another letter to a male deputy, Hurley called him a "young Jewish man" and suggested that he should be a "goat herder in Lebanon," the complaint said.

"I'm telling you I am not Anti-Semitic," Hurley said Friday, explaining that he often makes fun of himself as a Catholic and has Jewish lawyers, accountants and ex-girlfriends who can testify to his character.

'Pity the poor attorney'

In a separate petition, the ODC said Hurley made "antagonistic, inflammatory and demeaning remarks to and about a former client," Rock Peters, after Peters had filed a complaint with the ODC accusing Hurley of interfering with his right to a speedy trial and claiming that Hurley had demanded "acts of sexual perversion" from an employee who subsequently resigned.

Hurley vehemently denied those allegations in letters to the ODC, which were copied to Peters. Hurley's letters contained "sarcastic and insulting" comments about Peters, according to a report by the court's Board on Professional Responsibility.

"Who defends the attorney?" Hurley wrote. "No one! Pity the poor attorney who has the bad luck to represent 20 'nutballs' and, therefore, has 20 complaints filed against him or her."

Hurley told the board that he felt it necessary to respond to Peters' "defamatory remarks" and that he viewed Peters as a bully.

Hurley has been involved in a number of high-profile cases in Delaware, including representing Brian Peterson, the teen father of a newborn that was abandoned and died in a trash bin in Newark and, briefly, millionaire murderer Thomas Capano.

A University of Delaware alum, Hurley is known for sending lighthearted "Hurleygrams" to his colleagues. He once tried to play the theme music for "The Godfather" when a witness took the stand in a corruption trial before a peeved judge shot him down. Another time, he donned sunglasses and rapped a closing argument in a fraud case.

In 1990, Hurley was sanctioned by the state Supreme Court for his "perceived disrespect for the court" when he filed an additional pleading on behalf of a client after being explicitly told not to file any more pleadings.

In 2005, he was a lone wolf of sorts in opposing the appointment of Republican Attorney General M. Jane Brady as Superior Court judge.

His protest sign, "Judgeship for sale," guaranteed that Brady would never hear one of his cases. Later, in 2009, Hurley was temporarily barred from appearing before then-Chief District Judge Gregory M. Sleet in federal court, after Hurley had missed a hearing on April Fool's Day.

In its September report to the Supreme Court, the Board of Professional Responsibility sided with the ODC on three counts of professional conduct violations by Hurley.

The board did disagree with the ODC on one count: Hurley's private correspondence with the deputy attorneys general had no "direct impact on the administration of justice," the board ruled.

The board also rejected the ODC's argument that Hurley knowingly committed misconduct, downgrading it to "negligent" behavior. Noting that "Hurley had engaged in such ribald 'humor' over the years," the board found that he "had no conscious awareness that [such] conduct would violate the rules."

The ODC rejected that assessment, citing a 23-page document penned by Hurley and titled "My Struggle," also known as "Hurleygate."

That document, according to court records, was apparently circulated to many members of the Delaware Bar and Bench. In it, Hurley compared the board's proceedings to "The Salem Witch (Warlock) Trial," cited "so-called victims" and characterized his remarks as "all in fun."

"If I'm acting on my conscience and what I think is moral and what I think is honest and what I think is right, I don't care" what people think, Hurley said Friday. "I abhor people who don't have principles."

Had one of the offended prosecutors approached him directly, he added, he would've stopped the sexually-laced commentary. With no plans to retire soon, he said that "in the future, I won't make jokes about male-female things."

In the end, the Supreme Court imposed the board's recommended sanctions. The court noted that the board erred, however, in concluding that Hurley's conduct was merely negligent. After all, the attorney had been warned before.

"Simply put, Hurley may not have agreed that his unprofessional correspondence violated the rules," the justices said, "but he should have known that it did."

In a moment of irony, Hurley said, two weeks after the board hearing he asked a judge's secretary if she knew what a "MILF" meant in relation to a case.

In hindsight, he said, that probably wasn't a good idea. Times have changed.

"Fifteen years ago, 'You say, hey, you look hot today," he said. "Now it's like, oh you're sexually harassing me."

Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.

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