DC's strange concept of moral turpitude

In Washington DC if an attorney's conduct is found to involve "moral turpitude" disbarment is automatic.  The problem is that there is no clear definition of the concept of moral turpitude and the boards and courts continue to make very strange rulings on it.  For example, a few years ago the Board on Professional Responsibility concluded that a lawyer's conviction for murdering his wife did not establish moral turpitude (here), but this was later reversed.  Then there is the case of a lawyer who lied, cheated and stole property from a store for personal gain.  He was convicted for it, yet the DC Court of Appeals found that the conduct did not involve moral turpitude - even if it could be considered to be a "serious crime."  I wrote a long comment on that case here.  And finally, there is the case in which an attorney who was convicted of felony traveling for the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor was found not to have engaged in conduct involving moral turpitude. According to an account of the case, the attorney had made a 12-year-old boy his sex slave for six years and was convicted and sentenced to 15 years behind bars.  My comment on that one is here.

But not all is hope is lost.  While holding a child as a sex slave is not moral turpitude, it has been decided that tampering with a witness constitutes moral turpitude (here). And today comes news that a new opinion of the DC Court of Appeals has found that a conviction for obstruction of justice constitutes moral turpitude per se.  The Legal Profession blog has more on the case, including a comment on it from the Huffington Post here.

I guess I just don't understand the concept of moral turpitude.  It would seem to me that it has to mean something broader than interference with the judicial process, which seems to be what the DC decisions are limiting it to.

Is the title "the King of Torts" unethical, or illegal?

Over the years, a number of lawyers have been known as "the King of Torts."  Dickie Scruggs, Melvin Belli, Joe Jamail, among others have been awarded the title (whether by themselves, other lawyers or the media), but noone took it too seriously.

Obviously, the title is just a nickname... but, just for fun, consider this:  Over at the Abnormal Use blog I found a story that mentions something called the Titles of Nobility Act of 1810 (“TONA”), which reads, in part, as follows: "If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honour, ... such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States ...."

According to the story, TONA was proposed as the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and approved by by both the Senate and the House in 1810 but was never ratified by three-fourths of the states.  However, some have argued that the amendment became law upon the discovery of Virginia’s apparent ratification in 1819.  For more on this, go here.

New York starts program to provide public defenders for immigration proceedings

NPR is reporting that a new pilot program in New York City was launched earlier this month to provide public defenders to defendants facing deportation in immigration court (where the Constitution does not extend the right to court-appointed attorneys).  Go here for the story.


Thanks to the Legal Ethics Forum for the story.

New York City Bar issues report on the ethics of "cloud computing"

The question of whether it is ethical to use "the cloud" to store documents has generated a few ethics opinions.  I reported on the opinions from New Hampshire (here) and Florida (here).  Now, the NY City Bar Association has issued a new opinion.  Go here for the story and here for a copy of the report.

Thanks to the Legal Ethics Forum for the link.

Ethics lessons from fictional lawyers

Here is the link to an article on fictional lawyers, from movies and novels, and the ethical issues they faced.

Arizona adopts a revised version of Model Rule 3.8 rule on prosecutors duties

The newly adopted rule is available here.

Center for Prosecutor Integrity to create a registry of prosecutorial misconduct

The Center for Prosecutor Integrity has just issued this press release, announcing the the receipt of a grant to establish a Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct.

A public defender's comments on prosecutor misconduct

A few minutes ago I posted a note on a recent case on prosecutorial misconduct.  I then found a comment on the case (and more general issues related to due process in our criminal justice system) over at A Public Defender's blog.  That post is available here.

Conviction reversed - but no sanctions imposed - for prosecutor's improper comments

The Legal Ethics Forum recently posted a link to a story in the Connecticut Law Tribune about a decision of the state's supreme court overturning a conviction because of a prosecutor's improper comments.  Specifically, the prosecutor claimed the prosecutor acted improperly by repeatedly asserting during her  closing argument that both the defendant and his lawyer were asking the jury to "condone child abuse," that the defendant's testimony was "coached," and that the defense strategy was a game of "smoke and mirrors."

The court's opinion is available here.  The court's analysis on the question of the improper comments starts on page 11.

This is an interesting question.  I am not too bothered by the "smoke and mirrors" comment.  Even though it is clear that a prosecutor is not allowed to express his or her opinion on the credibility of a witnesses, I think this comment is within the acceptable limits of rhetoric.  It is just a way to say that the defendant's evidence is weak and that the juror's should not be confused by it. 

The comment on "coached" testimony is a closer call because it does come close to being an opinion on the credibility of the witness and suggests unethical conduct of the defense attorney.  It does sound like the prosecutor is saying "I believe the witness was not telling the truth."  However, I am not sure the comment was quite that clear.  Obviously "coached" is a term that has negative connotations but it seems to me it is just a comment on the demeanor of the witness and the general credibility of the testimony.  If that was all there was, I am not sure I would have overturned the conviction.

The first comment (the one about condoning child abuse), though, is of a different nature.  First of all, although it sounds like a statement of fact, it also was really a statement of opinion, and that opinion was questionable.  Second, it was probably not based on the evidence.  Third, it was used to stir emotions,  And, lastly, it was a cheap shot at the defendant's lawyer.

Based on this one comment, I agree the conviction should have been reversed. The court's analysis is very good.  The only thing I would add is that I think the court should have imposed sanctions on the prosecutor.  

Former Texas DA (now a judge) disbarred in case of wrongful conviction after failure to disclose exculpatory evidence

In March of 2012, the TV show 60 Minutes had a segment on the controversy over the conduct of a former Texas prosecutor who was accused of failing to disclose exculpatory evidence which resulted in the wrongful conviction of an innocent man. The innocent man spent about 25 years in prison until he was exonerated thanks to DNA evidence.  That evidence also disclosed the identity of the actual killer in the case.

I first reported on the case here (where you can also watch the full 60 minutes segment).  As the investigation on the case progressed, I reported later (here) that an investigating judge had found probable cause against the former prosecutor.  (There are more links to other articles on the case there too.)

Now the case is back in the news because it was recently reported (also here) that the prosecutor was sentenced to ten days in jail - yes, you read correctly; ten days!  The sentence is actually for contempt of court for lying during the investigation of the incident.

Fortunately, that was not the only punishment.  The judge has been disbarred and removed from the bench.  It is too bad it took so long to get to this point. 

Update 1/7/2014:  The Huffington Post has a short comment on the case here.