“Rather Bizarre Behavior”
The Georgia Supreme Court disbarred an attorney for misconduct in three matters
The facts, as deemed admitted, are as follows. In the matters underlying State Disciplinary Board Docket (“SDBD”) numbers 7598 and 7627, Greene received $10,000 from a father to represent his daughter for the limited purpose of a bond hearing in Jones County Superior Court. Accordingly, in June 2020, Greene filed a limited entry of appearance for purposes of seeking bond on behalf of the client. In November 2020, along with other motions, Greene filed a notice of appearance when the client was indicted. While the client was incarcerated, Greene was often unavailable when she would call him for case updates. During one telephone conference with the prosecutor and investigator assigned to the client’s case, Greene used profane language and was so disruptive while yelling at his family members that the prosecutor rescheduled the conference. Greene failed to attend the rescheduled case conference.
On April 8, 2021, the client, who remained incarcerated, came before the Superior Court for a trial calendar call, and despite receiving notice, Greene failed to attend the hearing and did not notify the court of any conflicts, nor did he file a conflict letter. The Superior Court was notified that the client and her father had not heard from Greene in several months despite many attempts to communicate with him. When court personnel attempted to contact Greene, he did not respond. The hearing was rescheduled, but Greene still failed to appear, and court personnel, the prosecutor, and the client’s father were all unsuccessful in contacting Greene.
The trial court then sent a notice for Greene to appear for a show cause hearing, but he failed to attend the show cause hearing that was before another Superior Court judge. During the show cause hearing, the judge learned that not only had Greene abandoned the case, but, in the words of a prosecutor who appeared at the hearing, he exhibited “rather bizarre behavior” during a meeting with the prosecutor, investigators, and the client. The court appointed an assistant public defender to represent the client because she could not afford another attorney, and the client terminated Greene’s representation.
Early on in the investigation, the client told Greene she wanted to cooperate with the prosecuting attorney by offering evidence that may assist in the investigation, but due to Greene’s abandonment, her willingness to be a cooperating witness was never conveyed to the prosecutor, and, instead, the co-defendant provided information against the client, which resulted in the co-defendant negotiating a plea agreement.
Respondent abandoned another client in a criminal matter after charging a $15,000 fee and failed to follow through on a third matter involving a federal prisoner.
Sanction
Having reviewed the filings in these cases, we conclude that disbarment is the appropriate sanction for Greene’s misconduct in these matters, which we hold violated Rules 1.2 (a), 1.3, 1.4 (a) (3) and (4), 1.5 (a), 1.16 (d), and 3.2.
(Mike Frisch)