Crime Of Violence Draws Disbarment
The Nebraska Supreme Court disbarred an attorney
Argyrakis pleaded no contest to knowing and intentional abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult or senior adult, a Class IIIA felony. At the plea hearing, when asked for a factual basis for the plea, the prosecutor said that if the matter proceeded to trial, the State would show that Argyrakis, in the course of a verbal argument, repeatedly punched his 83-year-old father in the face, resulting in observable injuries. Neither Argyrakis nor his counsel objected to the factual basis.
The attorney, who was admitted in 1992. represented himself in the bar discipline hearing
After being questioned by counsel for the relator, Argyrakis made a statement under oath. He stated that during his childhood, his father physically and emotionally abused him and that he witnessed his father physically abusing his mother. He testified to his belief that he had always represented clients diligently and effectively and that no clients had ever complained about his services. He also testified that he did not intend to harm his father, that he had attempted to get help for the circumstances that led to the incident, and that he did not believe a similar incident would happen again.
The court reviewed a 2015 precedent (linked here)
The foregoing discussion from Walz regarding the appropriate sanction when an attorney is convicted of a crime of violence is applicable in this case. We classified the conviction at issue in Walz as a crime of violence when it did not involve actual physical violence, but the threat to commit such violence. Here, the factual basis offered for Argyrakis’ no contest plea, to which Argyrakis did not object, was that Argyrakis committed an act of actual physical violence by repeatedly punching his 83-year-old father in the face.
This case is similar to Walz with respect to another traditional factor bearing on the appropriate sanction—the attitude of the respondent. In Walz, the attorney insisted on her innocence despite entering a no contest plea to making terroristic threats. We stated that it was not our task to review a criminal conviction in attorney disciplinary proceedings and that because the respondent insisted on her innocence, she had not accepted responsibility for her actions. For similar reasons, we cannot say that Argyrakis has accepted responsibility in this case. Although Argyrakis seems to concede that he did, in fact, inflict physical violence on his elderly father, throughout the proceedings, he has attempted to minimize his culpability by insisting that he was not the aggressor in the encounter and that his actions were in self-defense. As in Walz, it is not our task to review the conviction. And rather than accepting responsibility for that conviction, Argyrakis is attempting to assign at least partial responsibility for it to others.
And concludes
In Walz, we observed that while we have not stated a “‘bright line rule,’” our cases regarding the appropriate discipline for felony convictions have generally concluded that such convictions reflect adversely upon a lawyer’s fitness to practice law and that disbarment is the appropriate sanction. As in Walz, we believe it is necessary to convey the serious consequences that attach to a conviction for a crime of violence. Such a conviction damages the reputation of the bar and threatens public confidence in the profession. For these reasons, we conclude, after considering the appropriate factors, that disbarment is the appropriate sanction in this case.
NYV (ABC) reported that the attorney was a candidate for state Attorney General.
The case is STATE EX REL. COUNSEL FOR DIS. v. ARGYRAKIS. (Mike Frisch)