Closing Time
An Illinois Hearing Board recommends a suspension of 18 months and until further court order
The following allegations, which were deemed admitted, establish that Respondent committed criminal acts that reflect adversely on his fitness as a lawyer. Respondent pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge after an altercation in Wisconsin on December 25, 2017, in which he punched an employee of a tavern. The court withheld adjudication based on a deferred prosecution agreement.
On October 16, 2018, Respondent pleaded guilty in Wisconsin to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The court sentenced him to sixty days in jail, revoked his driver’s license for twenty-six months, required him to use an ignition interlock device, ordered him to undergo an alcohol assessment, and imposed fines and costs. Respondent also has a 2003 conviction in Wisconsin and a 2014 conviction in Michigan for driving while intoxicated.
Respondent committed further misconduct by failing to respond to the Administrator’s letters and subpoena duces tecum seeking information about his most recent criminal matter.
Respondent’s failure to participate in these proceedings is a significant aggravating factor. Because he has not cooperated with the Administrator, we do not know whether he is receiving treatment for his alcohol use. Consequently, he should be required to demonstrate that he is rehabilitated before returning to practice.
The battery is described in the appended Complaint
On or about December 25, 2017, Respondent was at a tavern in Madison, Wisconsin in the company of two women. Tavern staff informed Respondent and his two female companions that the tavern would soon close for the evening. Respondent and his companions became upset that the tavern was closing. One of the women pulled her pants down and urinated on the floor of the tavern.
Respondent and the two women left the tavern. One of the staff members of the tavern followed Respondent and the women out of the tavern, and called the police, intending to press charges against the woman who urinated on the floor. Respondent made an obscene hand gesture to the staff member, and then punched the staff member in the nose with a closed fist. Madison police arrived and placed Respondent under arrest.
(Mike Frisch)