“A Symbolic Act Of Professional Suicide”
A three-year suspension has been imposed by the New Jersey Supreme Court based on conduct described in the report of the Disciplinary Review Board.
From 1970 to 1983, respondent was employed as a probation officer for Essex County. After obtaining his law degree, respondent served as an assistant prosecutor at the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, from 1983 to 2001. During his tenure as a prosecutor, respondent supervised the arson and homicide units. Following his retirement from the prosecutor’s office, until his temporary suspension in 2014, respondent maintained a law office in his Maplewood residence, focusing primarily on criminal defense work in New Jersey state courts. On May 28, 2014, respondent was arrested in connection with the federal criminal charges underlying this matter.
…before the Honorable Mary L. Cooper, U.S.D.J., respondent entered a guilty plea to the information. During his allocution, respondent admitted that, between August 2013 and May 2014, he had engaged in a scheme to smuggle marijuana and tobacco to federal inmates in the ECCF. Respondent’s role was planned and coordinated as part of a conspiracy with his codefendants, V.S. and M.S. Respondent would meet with V.S., who was not incarcerated, to obtain the packages of contraband, which he would then smuggle into the ECCF. M.S., V.S.’s brother, a federal inmate, was detained at the ECCF during the relevant time frame of the conspiracy. Respondent admitted that he used his status as an attorney to secure meetings with the inmates who were part of the scheme, that he delivered the marijuana and tobacco to the inmates inside of an attorney conference room, and that he was paid approximately $500 in cash for each instance of smuggling. He admitted that he had smuggled contraband into the ECCF on eight occasions, in return for cash payments totaling $5,000 to $6,000.
The attorney sought a one-year suspension
In urging a one-year suspension, respondent points to several factors in mitigation, which, he contends, provide a background for his otherwise aberrational conduct. Specifically, respondent’s wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994. Although she initially went into remission, she suffered relapses on numerous occasions and received treatment for approximately twenty years, until her death in December 2013. In the period leading up to her death, her cancer had spread to her bones, making movement about their house difficult. Respondent, therefore, made costly renovations to his home to accommodate his wife’s needs and limitations.
During the same period, respondent’s son developed an addiction to cocaine and began to steal from the family. He also opened credit cards in respondent’s name, thereafter incurring debt in the amount of tens of thousands of dollars. Because respondent did not want to burden his wife with their son’s problems, he kept them from her and “tried to take care of everything himself.”
A psychological examination led to a conclusion that the conduct was a “symbolic act of ’professional suicide,’ motivated by overwhelming feelings of desperation and loss associated with his wife’s death, bitterness over his [personal and financial] situation, and not caring what happened anymore due to clinical depression.”
(Mike Frisch)