Florida Crime Draws New York Disbarment
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department concluded that an attorney was automatically disbarred as a consequence of a Florida conviction
On December 10, 2024, respondent pleaded guilty in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, to vehicular homicide in violation of Florida Statutes § 782.071(1)(a), a felony. According to the Certificate of Conviction, respondent was scheduled to be sentenced on February 11, 2025 to, inter alia, 24 months’ incarceration followed by seven years’ probation.
Respondent’s conviction stemmed from an August 26, 2022 motor vehicle accident involving his misuse of his vehicle’s “full self driving” feature and excessive speed by which he caused the death of another motorist.
By order dated December 16, 2024, the Supreme Court of Florida suspended respondent from the practice of law, effective January 15, 2025, based on his felony conviction, pending argument before a referee and a recommendation as to final discipline. By December 11, 2024 and January 16, 2025 letters, respondent notified AGC of his felony conviction and interim suspension in Florida. The record does not evidence final discipline in Florida.
AGC contends that “automatic” disbarment is warranted herein because respondent’s Florida felony conviction for vehicular homicide, if committed in New York, would constitute the class C felony of manslaughter in the second degree (Penal Law § 125.15[1]).
The court
The Court agrees. The felony statutes at issue are essentially similar in that both criminalize reckless conduct that causes the death of another person, and their analogous statutory language is also reflected in the information to which respondent pled guilty. While it does not appear that this Court has previously compared the two felony statutes at issue, this Court has found other out of state felony convictions predicated on reckless driving and driving while under the influence (DUI) to be 4 analogous to New York felonies…
Thus
Accordingly, AGC’s motion should be granted, respondent disbarred, and his name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law in the State of New York, effective nunc pro tunc to December 10, 2024 (date of conviction), and until further order of this Court.
The Palm Beach Post reported on the offense
An attorney who rear-ended a motorcyclist in suburban Boca Raton with his self-driving Tesla will spend two years in prison for her death.
Richard Daniel Dorfman, 42, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide on Dec. 10. In accordance with the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped an additional DUI manslaughter charge against him. Circuit Judge Caroline Shepherd sentenced him to prison, followed by seven years of probation, on Tuesday.
According to investigators, Dorfman’s 2020 Tesla Model 3 was driving more than twice the 45 mph speed limit when it collided with Ingrid Noon’s motorcycle at about 2 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2022.
The collision threw the 51-year-old Noon from her Kawasaki Vulcan S, causing her to tumble along Southwest 18th Street. Dorfman called 911 and told dispatchers that the motorcyclist cut him off — an accusation later disproved with the help of forensic analyses, crash reconstructionists and his Tesla’s built-in camera.
According to court records, Noon was traveling at the speed limit and began to slow as she approached a yellow traffic light. Investigators said Dorfman’s Tesla accelerated to 104 mph from 95 moments before the collision.
(Mike Frisch)