Sex Crimes Draw Permanent Disbarment Of Former Judge
An attorney’s criminal convictions drew permanent disbarment by the Kentucky Supreme Court
In 2017, Nolan was indicted in Campbell County on a multitude of felony counts, most of which involved allegations of a sexual nature. The victims of some of the counts against Nolan were minors. Following negotiations with the prosecution, on March 8, 2019, Nolan entered guilty pleas to twenty-one counts, reserving the right to challenge the constitutionality of Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 529.100, the human trafficking statute, which was the basis for some of the charges. The KBA had previously opened disciplinary proceedings against Nolan in Office of Bar Counsel (OBC) File 17-DIS-0133 and on May 24, 2018, Nolan was temporarily suspended from the practice of law pursuant to Supreme Court Rules (SCR) 3.166(1).
The twenty-one counts Nolan pled guilty to were comprised of: (a) four felony counts of Promoting Human Trafficking of a Minor—Commercial Sexual Activity; (b) one felony count of Unlawful Transaction with a Minor—Controlled Substance (pursuant to North Carolina v Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1970)); (c) one felony count of Unlawful Transaction with a Minor Under 18—Controlled Substance; (d) eight misdemeanor counts of Criminal Attempt Human Trafficking of an Adult—Commercial Sexual Activity (one pursuant to North Carolina v Alford); (e) three felony counts of Human Trafficking—Commercial Sexual Activity; (f) one felony count of Unlawful Transaction with a Minor Under 16, Controlled Substance; (g) one felony count of Criminal Attempt Human Trafficking of a Minor—Commercial Sexual Activity (pursuant to North Carolina v Alford); (h) one misdemeanor count of Unlawful Transaction with at Minor, 3rd degree; and (i) one misdemeanor count of Prostitution.
Nolan’s convictions were affirmed by the Court of Appeals in the unpublished decision in Nolan v. Commonwealth, 2022-CA-0232-MR, 2023 WL 3027861, at *1 (Ky. App. Apr. 21, 2023), which upheld the constitutionality of KRS 529.100. This Court denied Nolan’s motion for discretionary review on 2 August 16, 2023. Nolan acknowledges in his motion “that he has exhausted all avenues for appellate relief at the state level.”
Nolan is presently serving a total of twenty years in prison with additional five years conditional discharge upon expiration of his sentence. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 Human Trafficking Victims Services Fee and reimburse $7,000 to Public Advocacy for his representation.
Nolan’s crimes constitute violations of SCR 3.130(8.4)(b) which states it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to “commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.”
In his motion for permanent disbarment, Nolan acknowledges that the conduct to which he pled guilty is sufficient to warrant permanent disbarment and that he desires to terminate all pending disciplinary proceedings by resigning under terms of permanent disbarment. Nolan also affirms his understanding that “he cannot be reinstated to practice from permanent disbarment, and the provisions of SCR 3.510 do not apply.” He also asserts that upon entry of such an order, “he will never again engage in the practice of law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
Sanction
There can be no debate that the abusive, sexual, drug-related, conduct—involving minors—to which Nolan pled guilty, supports permanent disbarment. The conduct, and totality of such conduct, is so sufficiently severe that nothing less than permanent disbarment is appropriate here.
WCPO 9 Cincinnati reported
A judge sentenced a 71-year-old former Campbell County judge Friday to 20 years in prison for human trafficking and other sex crimes.
Tim Nolan, who previously served as a judge, school board member and city solicitor, forced 19 victims to perform sex acts, including seven who were minors under 16. The crimes took place between 2010 and 2017.
Many of the victims were addicted to heroin. Some were young runaways. Some were already at treatment centers that he visited. Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley, the special prosecutor in the case, said Nolan would pay or threaten the victims, saying he could use his authority to get them in trouble with a parole officer, take their children away or have them arrested. Nolan told his victims that no one would ever believe them if they said what he did to them.
“Because of my time with him, I don’t know that I will ever be the same,” one victim said in a written statement. “I have no self confidence or worth. I hate myself and feel dirty for all the things I had to do with him.”
Whaley said Nolan was only caught because one teenage victim told a school counselor what had happened. The girl’s mother was also one of Nolan’s victims.
Some background from Law & Crime
One of President Donald Trump‘s Kentucky campaign chairs pleaded guilty to multiple counts of human trafficking–including child trafficking–last Friday.
Tim Nolan, the campaign chair for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in Campbell County, Kentucky now faces up to 20 years in prison on those various felony charges.
Court documents note that, on numerous occasions, Nolan forced women and children into commercial sex work “for months” and “sometimes years.” A victim’s statement against Nolan accused him of preying on poverty-stricken women and girls and making them his “sex slaves.”
A former judge, Nolan was arrested last April and later indicted on 28 felony counts as well as two misdemeanor charges. Per the terms of a plea agreement, Nolan copped to 21 of the 30 total charges against him and will receive lighter sentencing. In sum, Nolan’s admitted crimes affected at least 19 different victims dating back to 2004. Some of those victims were children under the age of consent.
Judge Kathleen Lape has not yet unsealed all of the documents in Nolan’s case, however, she did summarize some of the allegations against the former judge.
Notably, Nolan forced at least one woman to perform sexual acts on him in order to avoid being evicted. Additionally, Nolan threatened multiple other victims with arrest unless they had sex with him. And, he also exchanged heroin and painkillers for sex with others.
Nolan is a well-known political figure in Campbell County, Kentucky where he frequently opines upon hot-button political issues and controversies. He served as a district judge during the 1970s and 1980s. Nolan later joined the Tea Party movement and was elected to the Campbell County School Board in 2016 after spiritedly campaigning for Trump and serving as Trump’s campaign chair there.
(Mike Frisch)