Colorado Bar Discipline For Domestic Violence

A domestic violence conviction and an effort to persuade the victim to “soften” her testimony drew a 30-month suspension from the Colorado Hearing Board.

Respondent graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1997 with a degree in marketing and finance. He attended the university on an athletic scholarship for long distance running and track. While there, Respondent was the captain of the cross-country team and was nationally ranked as a long-distance runner. After he graduated, Respondent trained for the 2000 Olympic trials, until he had a career-ending injury.

Ms. Olson and Respondent were married in 1997. He described their roles within their marriage as very traditional—“1950s Americana”—as he worked full-time and she stayed home to raise their children. Respondent testified that he and Ms. Olson both came from difficult backgrounds and that they wanted to “form the roots of a new family tree.” During their eighteen-year marriage, the Olsons had three children—two daughters and one son.

From 1997 to 2002, Respondent worked full-time as an adjuster for State Farm Insurance Company. During this period, he also attended the University of Nebraska College of Law, where he served as the executive editor of the Nebraska Law Review.

In 2006, Respondent and his family moved to Colorado, where he became licensed to practice law. He began his legal career in private practice, eventually working at a large firm. He was so fixated on becoming a partner that he missed two Christmases with his family and gained sixty pounds. He realizes now that his lifestyle then was fundamentally flawed, as he did not appreciate the notion of equity within the family. Around 2013, Respondent left private practice and became general counsel for Colorado School Districts Self Insurance Pool (“CSDSIP”),  where he earns about $125,000.00 a year. Respondent describes himself as passionate about school law and public education. At present, Ms. Olson is a kindergarten teacher and earns approximately $30,000.00 a year.

In 2013, the Olsons separated. Respondent moved to an apartment in Denver while Ms. Olson remained in the family home in Broomfield. In June 2014, Respondent moved back into the family home to work on their marriage.

The incident that led to discipline

That day, Ms. Olson had discovered Respondent’s relationship with another woman during their period of separation, and she was very upset. She called Respondent to discuss what she had found, but Respondent did not want to talk. He recalled that during this conversation, Ms. Olson told him that she could not “do it anymore” and, as he described, sounded as though she were in a frenzied emotional state.

They offered differing versions of what ensued, leading to this finding

Respondent admitted that he pushed Ms. Olson with enough force to knock her off the bed and even gave himself credit for winning the first round of the “shoving match” when describing his conduct to [Officer] Lopez. Respondent also conceded that he picked Ms. Olson up off the floor from her fetal position and tried to physically remove her from the room by dragging or carrying her toward the door, despite her resistance and pleas to stop. Ms. Olson credibly testified that she experienced pain, felt force, and was fearful for her safety. Ms. Olson indicated on her witness statement and corresponding diagram—made the same evening as the event—that Respondent struck her on four places of her body. Lopez likewise observed redness on her face, even though he determined that Respondent had not hit her in the face. 

The hearing board also accepted the ex-wife’s version of attempts to influence her testimony in the discipline case

We have already rejected Respondent’s assertion that Ms. Olson fabricated her allegations of witness tampering. Instead, we find that Respondent intentionally attempted to induce Ms. Olson to ignore the People’s subpoena and to testify falsely by “softening” her description of the events of June 18, 2014. Respondent knew that disciplinary charges were pending against him and that Ms. Olson had spoken with the People about being a witness at his hearing. Given these facts, we find that he intended to induce her not to testify at his hearing because he was worried about the sanction and his ability to continue supporting his children.

As to sanction

Respondent committed the reprehensible acts of inflicting violence upon his wife and then attempting to persuade her not to testify truthfully or to avoid service of a subpoena. His actions threatened the truth-seeking function of our disciplinary system and harmed his family. Thus, he should answer for his misconduct by serving a substantial sanction. Because his witness tampering occurred while he was wrestling with a contentious and toxic divorce, rather than in the course of representing a client, and stands as an aberration when viewed in light of his otherwise good record and reputation within the legal community, we determine that a thirty-month suspension is the fitting sanction.

In an unrelated domestic violence matter, a three-month suspension was imposed on another Colorado attorney

In September 2015, Qin physically assaulted his wife during an argument. While his wife was holding their son, who was almost two years old, Qin lost his temper and grabbed his wife’s pajama top. The garment ripped, leaving a gaping hole. He also tore out some of her hair. Qin’s wife ran upstairs to the bathroom, where she locked the door and called the police. Qin followed her and opened the bathroom door with a knife. At the time, the couple’s other two children, aged four and six, were also at home.

As to the sanction

Here, the five mitigating factors in this case preponderate against the two aggravating considerations. We are swayed by Respondent’s remorse, his cooperation in this disciplinary proceeding, and, to a far lesser extent, the personal and emotional problems that contributed to his lack of self-control and poor judgment. But we also take into account the somewhat violent nature of the assault: in our estimation, to tear out pieces of Crawford’s hair and rip a large hole in the front of her pajamas required a significant amount of force, which suggests that Respondent acted—at best—with a callous disregard for his wife’s welfare. To apply that force while Crawford held their son in her arms implies, too, an indifference to whether his attack might physically or emotionally injure the child. Considering the seriousness of Respondent’s misconduct, and weighing the severity of that offense against the nature of aggravation and mitigation, we find that Respondent should be suspended for a period of three months.

(Mike Frisch)