Unauthorized Contact Leads To License Surrender
After a prior rejection, the Georgia Supreme Court has accepted a petition for voluntary discipline.
While the court noted that the attorney did not admit all the alleged facts, it did not matter in light of the bottom line.
The matter is now again before the Court on the special master’s report and recommendation that this Court accept Joshi’s newly amended petition for the voluntary surrender of his bar license. Although Joshi continues to deny the more serious misconduct and violations of the GRPC alleged in this case, because he admits to violating Rule 4.2 (a) — the maximum sanction for a single violation of which is disbarment — and swore under oath that he would never apply for readmission to the State Bar, the Court accepts the voluntary surrender of his license, which is tantamount to disbarment. See GRPC Rule 1.0 (s) (“A voluntary surrender of license is tantamount to disbarment.”).
Respondent represented a client
who was allegedly the highest-ranking member of a gang in Georgia, involved a shooting in which several women were injured and an infant was killed. A co-conspirator pled guilty and agreed to testify against Jackson.
He sought to meet with the cooperating witness
Upon arriving at the Rockdale County Jail, Joshi approached the visitor registration desk and notified the intake deputy that he was there to meet with the coconspirator — whom he allegedly identified as his client. The intake deputy reviewed the jail database and noticed that, although it showed prior attorney visits for the coconspirator, Joshi had never visited him. After clarifying that Joshi was, in fact, there to visit his “client,” the intake deputy notified the supervisor for the coconspirator’s housing pod that the co-conspirator had an attorney visitor. But when the intake deputy notified Joshi that there would be a short delay so that the pod could be cleared, Joshi, unlike prior attorney-visitors, requested to have the visit occur in the attorney visitation booth, which permitted confidential conversation.
Once the co-conspirator had been moved to the attorney visitation booth, another officer escorted Joshi there. Very shortly after Joshi entered the booth, the intake deputy heard the co-conspirator pounding on the booth window, asking to be removed because Joshi was not his attorney. After the co-conspirator was removed and Joshi had exited the booth, officers observed that the co-conspirator was extremely agitated and visibly upset, stating that Joshi was Jackson’s attorney. After Joshi left the facility, he e-mailed [co-conspirator’s attorney] Gardner to inform him of his visit with the co-conspirator, and Gardner told Joshi not to visit the co-conspirator again. Joshi thereafter sent correspondence to the co-conspirator and Gardner reviewing the substance of his meeting with the coconspirator.
The court
Under the unique facts and circumstances of this case, we agree with the special master’s recommendation and accept Joshi’s post-remand petition for voluntary surrender of license.
…Although Joshi has not admitted to the more serious misconduct alleged in this case, his petition’s admissions of facts and conduct in violation of Rule 4.2 (a) are sufficient to authorize the imposition of discipline up to disbarment.
(Mike Frisch)