Strip Search

A public reprimand with terms was imposed by the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board

The Felony Arrest resulted from Respondent’s passage of tri-folded papers, which included two of Respondent’s business cards that were bonded together with a suboxone strip secreted between them, to his client at counsel table in a courtroom at the Washington County Courthouse on February 8, 2018. At the time of the incident, Respondent’s client was in custody as an inmate of the jail.

Leading to

In or about June 2019, Respondent entered an Alford plea of guilty to three misdemeanor charges, including possession of a Schedule ID substance on February 8, 2018 in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-250 and delivery or attempt to deliver articles to a prisoner on February 8, 2018 in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-474. The Washington County Circuit Court, pursuant to a Conviction and Sentencing Order, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated herein as Exhibit A,  imposed a nine-month sentence on Respondent with all nine months suspended, and  ordered Respondent to serve 12 months of supervised probation for each charge consecutively. 

Explanation

Respondent has maintained that he did not know that a suboxone strip was secreted between the two business cards Respondent passed to his client in the Washington County Courthouse on February 8, 2018 and has stated that his client’s wife had given him the business cards to give to the client at the Washington County Courthouse.

He must comply with monitoring by the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program. (Mike Frisch)