Michael Kiefer

The Republic | azcentral.com

Laurence "Kirk" Nurmi, the attorney who defended the murderer Jodi Arias during her two criminal trials, has agreed to be disbarred rather than face disciplinary proceedings for writing a book about the case before Arias completed appeal of her conviction and life sentence.

Nurmi did not return telephone calls to explain his decision to be disbarred.

In October, the Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee of the Arizona Supreme Court authorized the State Bar of Arizona to file a formal complaint against Nurmi for revealing attorney-client privileged information about Arias and her case in his self-published book, Trapped With Ms. Arias, which he released a year ago.

Timeline: A look back at the Jodi Arias murder case

Last week, Nurmi filed a consent agreement saying he would submit to a four-year suspension from practicing law. After such a suspension, an attorney would have to reapply to the Bar for membership. The consent agreement had not yet been accepted by the presiding disciplinary judge of the Arizona Supreme Court.

Immediately after the announcement of the consent agreement, the Maricopa County public defender, James Haas, lodged an objection to the Bar because the agreement did not specifically order Nurmi to cease violating ethical rules with regard to the Arias case. Nurmi's book, supposedly, was merely the first of three volumes he intended to write about defending Arias.

'Self-enrichment and "redemption" '

Karen Clark, an attorney representing Arias' interests in the Bar matter, also objected to the proposed consent agreement, writing that Nurmi may have admitted "intentional and knowing disclosure of confidences," but had not shown remorse nor taken responsibility for "repeated and intentional acts of dishonesty, deceit and misrepresentation of his knowing and intentional violation of court orders."

Nurmi filed his new consent agreement accepting disbarment Monday. Presiding Disciplinary Judge William O'Neil had signed off on it by late Monday afternoon.

The revelations in Nurmi's book could be damaging to Arias if she wins her appeal and is awarded a new trial. Details that were kept secret during the initial trial are now out in the open. If retried, Arias could face the death penalty again.

Nurmi violated ethics, Clark wrote, "for the express purpose of self-enrichment and 'redemption' — and to the extreme detriment of his client." The redemption refers to Nurmi's wanting to get matters off his chest after a long and salacious pair of trials in which he bore the brunt of social-media hatred.

But he was well compensated for his representation. According to a Maricopa County spokesman, Nurmi was paid $1,324,030.20 for defending Arias.

State Bar admonishes Jodi Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez, places him on probation

Jodi Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez appeals discipline handed down by State Bar of Arizona

Nurmi's tumultuous time in Arias case

Arias killed her lover, Travis Alexander, in the bathroom of his Mesa home in 2008. Nurmi, who was a deputy Maricopa County public defender, was appointed to defend her. But in 2011, Nurmi resigned from that office to start a private practice and tried repeatedly to be removed from the Arias case. The court denied the request. Over the course of the trial, Arias also repeatedly asked that Nurmi be fired, but those requests also were denied.

Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder in May 2013, but the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on whether to sentence her to death. The case went back to court in fall 2014 for a new jury to decide her sentence. After an equally contentious trial in which prosecutor Juan Martinez was frequently on the ropes, the second jury also reached impasse when a single juror refused to sentence Arias to death. The juror was immediately outed in social media and threatened by angry trial watchers. Arias was sentenced to life in prison.

Jodi Arias uses vulgar term, loses contact-visit privileges

Montini: Curious about Jodi Arias's odd, (perhaps) naughty prison purchases?