Angry When Intoxicated

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has imposed a suspension of one year based on a conviction for domestic violence and other misdemeanors.

A criminal Information was filed against the Respondent, James M. Demopolos, in the District Court for Oklahoma County. One count was dismissed and he pled guilty to violating: (1) 21 O.S. § 540, obstructing a public officer; (2) 21 O.S. § 1378(B), threatening to perform an act of violence involving or intended to involve serious bodily harm or death; and (3) 21 O.S. § 644(C), domestic abuse assault and battery. Upon Respondent’s guilty plea, the District Court deferred its two-year sentence until its review on January 6, 2017, and ordered Respondent to pay specific fines and costs. The court ordered he be placed under the supervision of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and successfully complete a 52-week Batterers Intervention Program with substance abuse testing.

The story

The evidence before the trial panel was that one Saturday evening in May of 2014, Respondent was verbally abusive and consuming alcohol. His condition caused his wife to leave their residence and spend the night with a relative. Upon her return the next morning she made a 911 telephone call seeking help because Respondent was drunk, verbally abusive, and physically abusive having hit her in her arm and head with his closed hand.

The police arrived and observed his intoxicated state. He made threats of physical violence against his wife in the presence of the police, including statements describing what he would do to her when he was no longer in custody. They noticed a bruise on his wife consistent with her complaint. The police sought identifying information from him and he responded with a contemptuous epithet. He admitted to the police that he had hit his wife. These facts served as a basis for three counts in the Information filed against him and his subsequent guilty pleas.

Other relevant circumstances

The evidence at the mitigation hearing was that Respondent had practiced law since 1978 and had no previous complaints for professional discipline. Respondent had previously worked as an oil and gas title lawyer, and no allegations have been made that his conduct has injuriously affected a client. Respondent is currently employed as a landman, and he works on title examinations authored by his employer who is a lawyer. An affidavit was submitted to show that Respondent has been compliant with the Lawyers Helping Lawyers program. A lawyer testified concerning Lawyers Helping Lawyers and Respondent’s participation in the program.

A lawyer testified that he became Respondent’s sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). He explained that Respondent had made progress in that program. The evidence shows that Respondent’s continuous participation in AA had been for less than a year at the time the mitigation hearing occurred. Another lawyer testified that he had shared an office with, and rented an office to, Respondent for several years. He stated that he had never seen him consume alcohol while working, or show any indication that alcohol had affected his practice of law.

The evidence at the mitigation hearing also included Respondent’s previous chronic use of marijuana as well as his use of sedatives. Respondent successfully completed a thirty-day in-patient treatment program for substance abuse after his arrest. However, he had two relapses of consuming alcohol shortly after returning home after treatment, and these two events occurred approximately five months prior to the mitigation hearing. The evidence showed that immediately after the relapses he continued with attending his AA meetings and informed his AA sponsor of the events. The record shows that Respondent has not failed any of his post-conviction drug tests, and testimony shows that he has not used marijuana or sedatives after his in-patient treatment.

Testimony at the hearing included an incident that occurred eleven years earlier when Respondent had been drinking alcohol and was arrested after having a physical altercation with a male relative. No criminal charges were filed relating to this arrest.

Testimony at the hearing from both Respondent and his wife showed that Respondent had previously pushed, shoved, and slapped his wife when he was drinking alcohol. His wife’s testimony shows that she is supportive of her husband, does not want him to lose his Bar license, and that she felt compelled to call the police because she needed help from someone to control Respondent or defuse the situation. She expressed her hope that the two of them could live in an alcohol-free environment. She testified that without alcohol consumption in the home they are kind to each other, there is no verbal or physical abuse present, and that they have been together for twenty-four years.

She stated that their future life as a married couple had to be based upon the absence of alcohol consumption in the home. She testified that she participated in Respondent’s in-patient counseling sessions, attended AA meetings, and that she and Respondent were working on the issues as both a couple and as individuals. She testified that Respondent’s mother, sister, two aunts, and an uncle had died during the previous five years and she thought that his increased alcohol consumption during this period was tied to what she perceived to be his depression concerning these events. She testified that during the last two years Respondent became angry when he was intoxicated. She testified that Respondent’s consumption of alcohol occurred only at home.

The court noted that the attorney had reconciled with his wife and was maintaining sobriety. He will be on deferred suspension after the year of actual suspension. (Mike Frisch)