Just Visiting
A romantic involvement with an inmate led to conduct drawing a six-month fully-stayed suspension from the Ohio Supreme Court.
The problem arose when the inmate was transferred to a new facility
Riggs-Horton had never been to the restricted-custody section before she made her first professional visit to Chandler there on August 19, 2017. At the time of her visit, she was not aware of the facility’s rules—one of which specified that money could be given to a prisoner only through a guard. During that visit, Chandler asked Riggs-Horton whether she could give him some cash to purchase items from the facility’s vending machines and stated that he was allowed to have up to $100 in $1 and $5 bills. Riggs-Horton replied that she had only two $5 bills and a $1 bill, and Chandler instructed her to hand him the money under the table. He explained that he would not receive the money for several days if it went through the proper channels. Video surveillance showed Riggs-Horton passing something to Chandler under the table.
After the meeting, guards searched Chandler for contraband and discovered smokeless tobacco but did not find the cash that Riggs-Horton had given him. Riggs-Horton was detained upon her return to the jail a few days later and was later charged with a violation of Ky.Rev.Stat.Ann. 520.060(1)(a), which provides, “A person is guilty of promoting contraband in the second degree when he knowingly introduces contraband into a detention facility or a penitentiary.”
Riggs-Horton denied passing Chandler smokeless tobacco but admitted that she had passed him contraband in the form of $11. Through counsel, Riggs-Horton proposed that she be permitted to enter into a diversion program on conditions, including that she perform community service, offer a free divorce clinic to inmates at the jail, voluntarily suspend her criminal practice for three months, and make certain donations of cash and law books in lieu of pleading guilty to the charged offense. The warden, however, insisted that she be prosecuted.
Riggs-Horton pleaded guilty to the charged offense and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, which was discharged for two years on conditions, including that she commit no other offenses, have no further contact with the Campbell County jail, and pay costs and fees of $165. She self-reported her conviction to relator and to the Kentucky disciplinary authority. Kentucky has held her disciplinary case in abeyance pending the resolution of this proceeding.
Sanction
The board recommends that Riggs-Horton be suspended from the practice of law for six months, all stayed on the condition that she engage in no further misconduct. We have imposed that sanction for comparable violations of Prof.Cond.R. 8.4(b) in at least two cases involving misdemeanor convictions and similar mitigating factors
The court adopted the recommendation. (Mike Frisch)