The Ohio Supreme Court voted Tuesday to suspend attorney Clyde Bennett II from practicing law for one year for "dishonest conduct."

The Supreme Court voted 4-3 for the one-year suspension after the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct initially recommended a suspension of six months.

In February, the board noted that Bennett’s misconduct involved “a misrepresentation to the Ohio Supreme Court,” something that is considered “a most serious offense.”

"Although (Bennett's) dishonest conduct involved material omissions and implicit misrepresentations to a court rather than an explicitly false statement, the panel believes an actual suspension is justified," the board said.

The case against Bennett, a prominent Cincinnati-area attorney, stems from an appeal he handled in 2015 for a Springdale man serving a 25-year sentence for attempted murder.

Bennett missed a Feb. 2, 2015, deadline to file the necessary documents to appeal the case to the Ohio Supreme Court. And when he filed a motion the next month for a delayed appeal, he wrongly stated he was not retained until after that deadline, according to the board.

The missed deadline complicated the man's ability to pursue an appeal in federal court, the board said. The man had to hire a new attorney and pursue the appeal "in a more difficult procedural context."

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More:Board: 6-month suspension for attorney Clyde Bennett II 'justified'

The Supreme Court said the harsher sentence was justified because this was the second time Bennett has been suspended by the Court for actions involving "dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation."

Bennett's law license was suspended for more than three years after a conviction in federal court. Bennett served 15 months in prison after admitting he deposited cash in amounts less than $10,000 to evade federal regulations requiring banks to report deposits over that amount. He was reinstated in 2011.

“Therefore we conclude that his misconduct warrants a greater sanction than the six-month suspension recommended by the board or the one-year with six months stayed on conditions that we imposed in the cases relied upon by the board,” the court said.

Bennett told The Enquirer that his spirit is not broken despite the decision from the court.

Bennett's full statement: