Ex-Girlfriend And Her Ex-Husband issues Endanger Lawyer’s Child

A stayed one-year suspension has been imposed by the Ohio Supreme Court.

After a day of drinking at a bar, Salters drove to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and got into a physical altercation with her ex-husband. Later that night, after picking up his two-year-old daughter, Salters returned to the bar, leaving his daughter asleep in his vehicle while he went inside to drink alcohol. When bar employees advised Salters that they had found his daughter awake in the car, he brought her into the bar. Salters then drove from the bar to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and forcibly entered the apartment, leaving his daughter in the vehicle. The ex-husband and some other occupants of the apartment hit Salters and forced him out. When the police arrived, Salters failed to advise them that his daughter was in his car. She was subsequently discovered by an officer who heard her crying as he was canvassing the area.

Salters pled guilty to charges of trespassing in a habitation, a fourth degree felony, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, a first-degree misdemeanor, and child endangering, a first-degree misdemeanor. He received a suspended 15-month prison sentence and was placed on community control for three years for the trespassing charge, was ordered to serve a 30-day jail sentence for the drunk-driving charge, and received a suspended five-month jail sentence for the child-endangering charge. Salters was also ordered to pay $5,290 in restitution for the injuries and property damage that he caused as well as $2,500 in fines. Upon notification of his conviction, we suspended his license on an interim basis.

There was mitigation

The parties stipulate that the mitigating factors include the absence of a prior  acceptance of responsibility for his actions, his full and free disclosure to the board and his cooperative attitude toward the proceedings, the imposition of other penalties, and his entering into and complying with a recovery contract with the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program [“OLAP”].

He must complete his criminal probation and maintain compliance with OLAP conditions. (Mike Frisch)