Not Yet But Soon

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has denied reinstatement to a petitioner but set conditions for reapplication in six months

Hutson, a former police officer, became a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association on September 25, 1991, after graduating from law school. Her post-law school graduation work consisted primarily as an attorney in the District Attorney’s office covering various counties including Muskogee, Cherokee, Wagoner, Adair, and Sequoyah. She also worked in private practice, and was appointed as a special prosecutor by the Oklahoma Attorney General in 1995 to prosecute the notorious Baby Luke case in Pittsburg County.

According to the petitioner, she suffered from anorexia off and on her entire adult life. In the early 2000’s, her life began to tailspin and she started abusing cocaine. She attributed her tailspin to her traumatic childhood due to her father’s alcoholism and criminal behavior, her deteriorating marriage, depression, anxiety, anorexia, her youngest son joining the military and being deployed to Iraq, and her youngest granddaughter being born with spina bifida. In 2003, she sought treatment in Arizona for anorexia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression, and in 2005, she took an overdose of Xanax.

The incident giving rise to her suspension occurred on February 22, 2005, when she attended a drug bust at a search scene. While at the scene, she placed a bag of methamphetamine in her purse. After the drug scene, investigators reported that drugs were missing from the crime scene, Hutson admitted that she discovered the missing drugs in her purse. She insisted that they stuck to the rubber gloves that she was wearing when she took them off and put them in her purse. She adhered to this story, testifying before the Multicounty Grand Jury on September 22, 2005.

As the investigation continued, it became apparent that the petitioner took the drugs from the scene, and altered the contents of the bag.  Consequently, she faced a perjury charge in Oklahoma County, and charges of offering false evidence and possession of controlled dangerous substance in Wagoner County, Oklahoma.  On September 8, 2006, she pled guilty to the charges, received a five (5) year deferred sentence, and paid $3500.00 in each county for a total of $7000.00 in fines and court costs.

She was permitted to resign from the bar. In 2011, the conviction was expunged. 

 In 2016, Hutson filed a Petition for Reinstatement, but voluntarily withdrew it after she became overwhelmed with the process, realized she was not ready for reinstatement, and decided that she needed independent attorney representation which she could not afford. She submitted another Petition for Reinstatement on July 25, 2018. The Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT) held a reinstatement hearing on October 17th and 18th, 2018…

At the hearing, ten people testified, with sixty exhibits admitted. The first to testify (via telephone) was Penny Ross Miller, a licensed professional counselor. The counselor also provided a letter dated October 5, 2018, which verified that the petitioner began weekly therapy sessions on September 21, 2018. The letter noted that Hutson had attended three counseling sessions, and had agreed to maintain weekly sessions for the foreseeable future. The counselor’s testimony expanded on the letter and identified an additional counseling session that Hutson had attended.

Another client of the counselor had recommended that Hutson seek counseling and attend AA meetings. Hutson maintains that she has remained free of illegal substances for 13 years and had recently completely abstained from alcohol. The recent counseling appears to be the only counseling the petitioner has had since her resignation in 2007. The counselor encouraged AA attendance if any type of narcotic abuse was an issue.

Next, District Judge Jeffrey Payton, attorney Brett Smith, and attorney Amy McFarland testified in support of her reinstatement regarding the many years they have known petitioner. They believe in the petitioner’s moral character, legal skills and knowledge of the law, and they all supported reinstatement. Smith also sponsored the Muskogee County Bar Association’s unanimous resolution of support for Hutson’s reinstatement. Hutson’s current employer, attorney William Connor II, also praised her current moral character and described her current work product as spectacular. Additionally, the petitioner offered seven letters from other judges and lawyers who supported her reinstatement.

Emett Hutson, the petitioner’s husband, testified that he had never witnessed her using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol and that she had stopped drinking completely after agreeing to participate in Lawyers Helping Lawyers. The petitioner’s son, Master Sergeant Christopher Bickel, also supported his mother, noting that she was remorseful, accepting of responsibility, and that she had high moral character. He described her as having a much better work-life balance than she did at the time she lost her license.

Clint Johnson, who served as a supervising agent District 27 Drug Task Force at the time of the incident giving rise to Hutson’s resignation, gave additional details about the drug raid. He testified that the bag of methamphetamine that Hutson returned was not of the same type/quality that she took from the crime scene. He also testified that Hutson told him he should tell anyone that asked that she did not intentionally take the drugs. Ultimately, all of the drug charges against the individuals who were arrested in the raid were dropped due to the tainted evidence.

Issues

Hutson testified that she did not intentionally omit the Arkansas public intoxication and two civil lawsuits, but that it was an oversight. She also stated that when the Bar questioned her about them, she readily admitted them. The public intoxication occurred in the summer of 2011, as a result of her being a passenger on a motorcycle driven by her intoxicated husband.

The omitted lawsuits, and additional lawsuits corroborate the petitioner’s account that her life was in a tailspin beginning in the early 2000’s. For example, she was involved in a medical debt collection in 2000, a foreclosure in 2002, a small claims indebtedness in 2003, a malpractice case in 2003 which was dismissed, a collection for a loan she co-signed for her son in 2004, a default loan in 2005, a small claims breach of contract in 2007, a small claims indebtedness in 2008, a tax collection in 2008, public intoxication in 2009, a medical debt collection in 2010, and two minor traffic citations in 2013 (one of which was dismissed). Nothing significant has been filed since 2010, almost a decade ago.

At the time of the hearing, the petitioner also had incurred student loan debt, tax liability to the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC), and to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She owed $7,240.87 plus penalties and interest and fees for tax years 2009 through 2014 to the OTC, $11,431.18 to the IRS, and $183,000.00 in student loans. She explained her tax liabilities were the result of a former employer’s refusal to provide W-2 forms.

Recommendation

On December 18, 2018, the PRT filed its report and recommendation. It concluded that Hutson had not established by clear and convincing evidence that she met all of the requirements for reinstatement. The PRT unanimously recommended that Hutson not be reinstated, but that she re-apply after completing a contract with Lawyers Helping Lawyers, continuing to receive treatment by mental health professionals, attending a twelve step program and demonstrating consistent servicing of her financial obligations. The cause was assigned on January 29, 2019, and the final briefs were completed on February 20, 2019.

The court

 Today, we follow Albert, supra. Caselaw since Albert involving attorneys engaged in similar behavior to the petitioner has resulted in reinstatement being granted,  and, in some cases, denied. Furthermore, other cases in which drugs or alcohol were not involved, but in which the conduct was as serious as the petitioner’s misconduct have also resulted in reinstatement, with a few exceptions.  Here, more than a decade has passed before seeking reinstatement. However, given the severity of her afflictions, and her misconduct, the surrounding circumstances, and the fact that a criminal case was affected by her behavior, we are not convinced that she met the burden placed upon her by the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings and the precedents set by this Court in regard to those rules at this time.

Although she had begun counseling, she had only attended three sessions at the time of her application for reinstatement. We recommend that she reapply for reinstatement in six months after doing the following: 1) maintain sobriety, and refrain from abusing prescribed medications or illegal drugs; 2) submit to random drug testing and pass; 3) abide by her Lawyers Helping Lawyers Contract, continue counseling, and have her counselor submit monthly progress reports of her continued care and treatment; 4) follow her counselor’s recommendations regarding attendance of Twelve Step Program meetings; and 5) continue to make regular payments to her tax and student loan obligations.