A Death In Alabama
A manslaughter conviction in Alabama drew a two year and a day suspension in Oklahoma
The accident occurred at night on February 8, 2016. There were conflicting accounts of what happened. According to the police, the respondent left the scene of the accident and was apprehended after the collision going the wrong direction up a hill. The respondent smelled of alcohol, had damage to his truck, and what appeared to be blood on the truck. The victim’s back tire was crushed and his bike had reflectors on it.
According to the respondent, he thought he might have hit a deer because he had hit one earlier in Texas while en route to Alabama. He stated that there was no place to immediately turn around so he drove until he could turn around and go back to see what he hit. By the time he returned to the scene of the accident, the police were already on the scene. He also said the victim was wearing dark clothing and he did not see any lighting or reflectors on the bicycle.
The police arrested the respondent after he failed a field sobriety test. He subsequently spent eight days in jail trying to contact someone through the jail’s faulty telephone system to post bail. Charges for leaving the scene of an accident were eventually dropped.
Concerned about how the accident would affect his ability to work, the respondent contacted the OBA Ethics Counsel soon after his arrest to seek advice about reporting the incident to either the OBA and/or future employers. A logged record of the respondent’s OBA visit, dated March 31, 2016, provides:
Question regarding duty to report himself. He has been charged in Alabama with multiple crimes, (DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, negligent homicide). He wants to self-report because it is weighing so heavily upon him. He has been to treatment, is continuing with follow-up treatment and obtained counsel to represent him in the criminal case in Alabama.
[Response] There is no duty to self-report. Recommended that he obtain counsel here in Oklahoma to help him consider how best to present any convictions to the OBA if his counsel advises him to do so.
The respondent explains that he understood the conversation to mean that he did not need to self-report anything about the accident to either the OBA or potential employers.
In April of 2017, the Grand Jury of Baldwin County, Alabama, indicted the respondent for recklessly causing the death of another person while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. In February or March of 2018, the respondent thought he had resigned from the Alabama Bar, but later learned that he had merely been placed on voluntary inactive status. On March 21, 2018, the respondent entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter, which under Alabama law is a felony.
Alabama sentenced the respondent, resulting in a thirty-six months suspension and probation. The respondent entered into a fifty-six day alcohol treatment program, and then lived in a sober living house in Wichita Falls, Texas, for eighteen months. He has not drunk alcohol or used any illicit drugs since the 2016 accident.
Feeling bad about the accident, the respondent placed himself on a “self-imposed” suspension from any further law practice from 2016 until 2020, when he began to run out of money. He never reported the conviction to the Alabama State Bar or the OBA. In February of 2020, The respondent went to work for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS). He did not inform OIDS of his conviction or that he was on probation.
In April of 2022, someone reported the past felony conviction to the OBA which resulted in the opening of an investigation by the OBA. After OIDS learned of the felony conviction, they gave him the opportunity to resign, which he did on April 28, 2022.
Soon thereafter, the respondent again contacted the OBA to further inquire about self-reporting. The ethics counsel responded as follows:
Mr. Reedy,
I write in response to your recent inquiry. There is no duty to self-report in the ORPC. There is a duty to report discipline for lawyer misconduct in another jurisdiction under RGDP 7.7(a). In the situation that you described to me there was no imposition of discipline for lawyer misconduct and therefore no duty to self-report. I concur with the advice that you have indicated that you received previously from Ethics Counsel. I am presently looking for the memoranda from that prior inquiry. Because some prior records are not kept digitally, it may take some time to locate them. Do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
On June 3, 2022, the OBA filed a Notice of Plea of Guilty and Sentence with this Court, which certified copies of the conviction attached. After inquiries from the OBA, the General Counsel of the Alabama State Bar filed a Petition with the Alabama Supreme Court on June 10, 2022, seeking to Suspend or Disbar Reedy due to his Alabama Felony Conviction. On June 20, 2022, this Court entered an Order of Immediate Interim Suspension, but gave the respondent the opportunity to show why the suspension should be set aside.
The respondent asked us to set aside the interim suspension because the accident happened almost six and a half years ago, and it did not demonstrate any unfitness to practice law. The OBA requested that suspension remain in place until final discipline was imposed. On October 3, 2022, we issued an order keeping the suspension in place, and remanding the cause to the PRT for a hearing for the imposition of final discipline. Also on October 3, 2022, the Alabama Supreme Court struck the respondent from the Roll of Attorneys. The respondent did not challenge the Alabama disbarment because he does not have the resources to do so, and has no plans to return to Alabama.
Duty to report
The better practice is to report criminal convictions, and let the Court11 determine whether the application of Rule 7 is warranted. In this cause, the respondent was convicted in 2018. A delay in the suspension/disciplinary process was a disservice to both the public and the attorney. Had the OBA been given timely notice of the conviction, respondent’s inability to practice law for a specified time would likely have been over by now. On the other hand, had he been reciprocally disbarred in Alabama before this cause was brought, most likely he would have been disbarred at that time.
Sanction
Considering all of the cases cited above, and the respondent’s commitment to recovery, as well as his service to indigents through his work at OIDS, we agree with the PRT and OBA that the appropriate discipline is suspension for two years and one day. The suspension begins from the date we imposed the interim suspension which was June 20, 2022. We encourage participation in Lawyers Helping Lawyers and Alcoholics Anonymous, but do not make such participation mandatory. The respondent is assessed the costs of this proceeding in the sum of $2,883.68 for payment not later than ninety days after this opinion becomes final.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision to suspend Respondent’s license to practice law for two years and a day. The Oklahoma Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, our jurisprudence, and our commitment to ethical and responsible self-governance of the legal profession, dictate that the appropriate discipline for Respondent is disbarment. Rule 7 of the Oklahoma Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, 5 O.S. 2021 Ch. 1, App. 1-A, grants this Court discretion to determine a convicted attorney’s fitness to practice law and, if necessary, the appropriate discipline for the conviction. I agree with the majority’s finding that Respondent’s conduct demonstrated an unfitness to practice law, but I cannot support any discipline less than disbarment.
There should be no reward for “self-suspension”
we should reject any impulse to reward Respondent’s “self-imposed suspension.” This Court does not recognize an attorney’s self-imposed suspension as “time served.” The truth is, Respondent hid out from the Alabama Bar Association and the Oklahoma Bar Association hoping neither one would ever find out what he did that awful night. Respondent did not even tell OIDS about his Alabama felony. At the PRT hearing Respondent testified:
But in the instances of OIDS — I can’t say what I would have done if I would have gone to — tried to go to work for one of the firms downtown, I don’t know. But in the instances of OIDS, since there is a public high, you know, kind of a profile, if you will, if that had been asked, I would have said yes.
PRT Transcript, 190: 4-10. Also, at the PRT hearing, Respondent testified, “You know, at 4:00 that morning, I’d hit a deer in East Texas on the way down there and I just, at first, thought that was exactly what had happened here because I just did not see anything.” Id., 198: 3-6. Then, Respondent testified, “I knew it was a deer in Texas because the sun was coming up and I could see it rolling in the ditch in my rearview mirror.” Id., 235: 14-16. From my reading of the record Respondent’s conduct after the manslaughter demonstrates that the only appropriate discipline is to disbar.
(Mike Frisch)