News From North Carolina
The excellent quarterly report of the North Carolina State Bar Office of Counsel has been posted for January 2018.
The report describes a pending matter
Craig M. Blitzer – 17 DHC 23
Blitzer, of Reidsville, is the former elected district attorney of Rockingham County. It is alleged that Blitzer allowed his staff to take online academic tests for his wife on State time. The grievance has been stayed pending the availability of the SBI investigative report. Blitzer pled guilty in Wake County Superior Court to misdemeanor willful failure to discharge duties. The Chair of the DHC entered an order of interim suspension of his law license.
The Winston-Salem Journal covered the criminal case.
Craig Blitzer pleaded guilty to the crime on July 17 to misdemeanor charges of failure to discharge the duties of his office after State Bureau of Investigation agents discovered that his wife, Cindy Blitzer, was paid that $48,000 while enrolled full-time in nursing classes at South University in High Point.
“I sincerely regret my actions in connection with this matter,” Blitzer said in the affidavit. “While my only motivation was the love I have for Cindy, I accept full responsibility.”
A case we previously discussed involves five accused law firm members
Jerry B. Clayton, Robert W. Myrick, Robert D. McClanahan, Ronald G. Coulter, and
Gladys Nicole Clayton – 17 DHC 25
It is alleged that the law firm of Clayton, Myrick, McClanahan, & Coulter, PLLC in Durham did not properly reconcile its trust account. It is alleged that Ms. Clayton did not respond to questions from Trust Account Compliance Counsel after a random audit. It is alleged that Ms. Clayton, Mr. Clayton, and Mr. McClanahan did not respond to the Grievance Committee. It is alleged that Ms. Clayton modified reconciliation records provided to the State Bar to hide dates so it would appear the reconciliations were timely performed when they were actually created on the date of production to the State Bar. It is alleged that Ms. Clayton made misrepresentations to the State Bar and that the other defendants either knowingly made the same misrepresentations or made those misrepresentations with reckless disregard as to their truth or falsity. Hearing is scheduled for June 27 and 28.
It is unusual to have a case alleging misconduct on the part of so many law firm attorneys. My cursory review of the dockets suggests that each attorney has individual counsel, which makes sense given the potential for conflict in assessing culpability.
Also
Arnold O. Jones – 18 DHC 3
Jones, of Goldsboro, was convicted of the federal felony of promising and paying gratuities to a public official in violation of 18 U.S.C. 201(c)(1)(A) for attempting to induce a law enforcement officer to unlawfully obtain the text messages of Jones’s wife. Hearing has not been scheduled.
The News & Observer reported on the Jones conviction.
A former Wayne County judge will be on probation for two years after offering a federal agent two cases of Bud Light and $100 to retrieve his wife’s text messages without the necessary search warrant.
Former N.C. Superior Court Judge Arnold Ogden Jones II was sentenced in federal court on Wednesday as part of a plea arrangement worked out with federal prosecutors earlier this year.
Jones also was fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.
The sentencing hearing in Elizabeth City in front of U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle followed a court proceeding in March in which Jones agreed to a plea arrangement with prosecutors. Though he was accused of attempting to bribe a federal agent, Jones pleaded guilty to promising and paying gratuities to a public official.
A pending appeal involves a former colleague of mine from the Senate Watergate Committee
Eugene Boyce v. NC State Bar (Wake County Superior Court). Boyce alleges that he filed a grievance against Roy Cooper for conduct that allegedly occurred in 2000 when Cooper was a candidate running against Boyce’s son to become Attorney General of North Carolina. He seeks declaratory judgments that (1) the State Bar has a conflict in handling the grievance because the Attorney General represents the State Bar in various lawsuits and (2) the State Bar is obliged to refer the grievance to the courts for investigation and disciplinary action and an award of costs. The court dismissed the complaint. Boyce appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Oral argument was held February 7, 2017. We await a decision. The State Bar was represented by Parker Poe Adams and Bernstein in the trial court but is represented by the OOC on appeal.
(Mike Frisch)