Speeding In Kansas

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney convicted of several offenses and sanctioned by other courts.

 In the early afternoon on December 11, 2013, Clark County Kansas deputies arrested the respondent for speeding, driving under suspension, failure to carry liability insurance, possession of marijuana, and possession of methamphetamine. The respondent reported to the deputy who stopped him that he had a hearing with a client in Guymon, Oklahoma. We presume that means Guymon was his destination before his arrest. The next day, the State of Kansas brought criminal charges consisting of six counts pursuant to that arrest.

Less than three weeks later, just two hours after the New Year, 2014, began, an Enforcement Agent for the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission arrested the respondent at the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Kansas, on a charge of methamphetamine possession. The Kansas Star Casino security supervisor notified Agents for the Commission that one of the casino’s security officers witnessed the respondent drop a clear plastic baggy containing a crystal–like substance onto the floor near the area entrance. After locating the respondent and detaining him, the respondent finally consented to a search. The agent found the baggy in the respondent’s coat pocket. On January 15, 2014, the State of Kansas brought two counts against the respondent consistent with the discovery at the casino that the respondent was in possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

The next month, February 10, 2014, the respondent and the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator filed a joint motion for temporary suspension of his Kansas bar license. The Supreme Court of Kansas granted the joint motion and ordered the respondent’s immediate suspension during the pendency of his disciplinary proceedings. That court ordered him to comply with Kansas Supreme Court Rule 218,³ which required written notice within fourteen days of his suspension to clients and other jurisdictions in which he held licenses to practice law. Although the respondent notified the 10th Circuit, he did not notify the Oklahoma Bar Association.

The respondent entered a guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement on March 20, 2014, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia in Sumner County District Court Case No. 14 CR 11, and fined $250.00 plus court costs, and sentenced to six months in the county jail. In lieu of his jail time, the court placed him on probation for one year, with the special condition that he successfully complete a drug treatment program. The court dismissed the charge of Possession of Methamphetamine.

After receiving probation

One month later, on September 30, 2014, the respondent was arrested in Sedgwick County for Trafficking Contraband in a Penal Institution. The arrest constituted a violation of the terms and conditions of his supervised probation in both the Clark County District Court Case No. 13-CR-40 and the Sumner County District Court Case No. 14 CR 11.

The respondent did not report his September 30, 2014, arrest for Trafficking Contraband in a Penal Institution within the next business day and as a result, on October 3, 2014 at 3:45 p.m., when he reported to his Court Service Officer in Sumner County, Kansas, the officer reported in an Order to Arrest and Detain that the respondent had violated his conditions of probation. The respondent’s defense attorney in Case No. 14 CR 11 sent a letter dated October 29, 2014, to the Sumner County Attorney regarding the respondent’s future plans, which were to return to practice law in Oklahoma if he was reinstated. On November 13, 2014, at his hearing to revoke his probation, the court remanded the respondent to the custody of the Sheriff of Sumner County to serve the remainder of his sentence in Case No. 14 CR 11. The court reinstated his probation for a period of one year from the date of the hearing, under the same terms and conditions as before.

In a letter dated, April 10, 2015, the respondent’s Kansas attorney informed the First Assistant General Counsel of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Loraine Dillinder Farabow, that the respondent was not actively practicing law in Kansas or Oklahoma, and that he had entered into a voluntary agreed order of temporary suspension on February 10th, 2014, in the State of Kansas. The respondent’s attorney attached the Kansas order.

On sanction

The respondent, Sullivan, has been suspended from the practice of law before the 10th Circuit and the Kansas Bar. He failed to notify this Court of his suspensions and did not obey the order of the Supreme Court of Kansas to notify other jurisdictions in which he was licensed of his suspension. He has had two convictions and subsequent arrests on drug charges. He was the sole attorney in the drug court in one Kansas County. Because he wrote a check for his Oklahoma Bar dues that was returned for insufficient funds, the Oklahoma Bar Association tried to find him and did not learn of his suspensions by the 10th Circuit and the Kansas Bar through the respondent, but through Kansas authorities. He did not respond to the Oklahoma Bar Association’s inquiries, nor did he file any briefs to mitigate damages.

Thus disbarred (Mike Frisch)