Friday, September 2, 2016

An attorney who engaged in retail theft and failed to participate in the disciplinary response should be disbarred, according to a recent report and recommendation of a Louisiana Hearing Committee.

The property taken was hair dye valued at $7.29.

The committee noted that the attorney's theft conviction was a specific intent crime.

The attorney had been disciplined in the past and placed on probation

LaMartina I demonstrated that respondent was convicted of unauthorized access to a public school and resisting arrest, stemming from a series of incidents in which she entered the campus of her son’s middle school without authorization from school officials. Following her conviction, which occurred prior to her admission to the Louisiana bar, respondent was placed on probation and ordered to stay off the premises of any public school in St. Tammany Parish. She was also required to pay a monthly supervision fee of $50 while she was on probation. Thereafter, in 2007, respondent violated the conditions of her criminal probation by going onto the campus of an elementary school in St. Tammany Parish without authorization and by failing to pay her monthly supervision fee.

Details of the school premises conduct

The testimony at respondent's criminal trial revealed that, on one occasion, respondent entered TMS after school hours and asked a custodian to open the door to her child's classroom so she could obtain evidence against the teacher to prove the teacher was lying about her child's behavior in class. Further testimony revealed respondent entered the playground area without permission and asked another student to get off of a swing so her child could swing.Her child's teacher testified that respondent walked her child to the classroom almost every morning after class had already started. The teacher also testified that, two or three times a week, respondent would call her into the hall to talk while class was in session. Furthermore, during a parent-teacher conference, respondent physically threatened the teacher by charging at her across the table because she did not agree with the grades the teacher had given her child. She also called the teacher a liar.

The court revoked probation in part because of an unrelated shoplifting

The ODC also suggests that respondent’s probation should be revoked as the result of her arrest for shoplifting. The board agreed, based upon the panel’s finding that the testimony of Target’s employee, Ms. Luke, was credible and consistent with the security video introduced into evidence by the ODC. In light of the testimony and documentary evidence in the record, we cannot say this finding is clearly wrong. See In re: Bolton, 02-0257 (La. 6/21/02), 820 So. 2d 548 (“Although this court is the trier of fact in bar disciplinary cases, we are not prepared to disregard the credibility evaluations made by those committee members who were present during respondent’s testimony and who act as the eyes and ears of this court.”). Therefore, we find respondent’s commission of the criminal act of shoplifting forms an additional basis for the revocation of her probation.

In sum, respondent has knowingly disobeyed an obligation under the rules of a tribunal, in violation of Rule 3.4(c) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, and has engaged in criminal conduct, in violation of Rule 8.4(b). Accordingly, she has committed additional misconduct during the period of her probation in LaMartina I, warranting the revocation of her probation and the imposition of the previously deferred one year and one day suspension.

(Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2016/09/an-attorney-who-engaged-in-retail-theft-and-failed-to-participate-in-the-disciplinary-response-should-be-disbarred-according.html