Urine Trouble: Conduct Draws Three-Year Stayed Suspension
A stayed three-year suspension with a number of conditions has been imposed by the Disciplinary Hearing Commission of the North Carolina State Bar.
The triggering incident was unrelated to the practice of law
On 9 August 2013, Holmes took his lawfully prescribed medications of Adderall during the day and Trazadone at night. He had not previously taken Trazadone, which should not be combined with alcohol. Holmes consumed a moderate amount of alcohol in the evening and went to sleep. Holmes has no recollection of the events that followed and are described below. However, based on the reports of others, Holmes stipulates to these facts and accepts full responsibility for his actions.
Early in the morning of 10 August 2013, Holmes was at the City Limits Saloon in Raleigh. When Holmes was informed that he would not be served any additional alcohol due to his level of intoxication, he became disruptive and was asked to leave the bar.
Outside the bar, a Wake County Sheriffs Deputy tried to help Holmes find a cab to take him home. When Holmes became belligerent, the Deputy attempted to place Holmes in custody. Holmes resisted, twice kicking the Deputy in the shin.
Holmes was subsequently taken to the Wake County Detention Center by Raleigh Police. He was combative during transport.
Holmes’s disruptive behavior continued when he arrived at the detention center. Due to his behavior and intoxication, the detention center nurse referred Holmes to Wake Medical Center for evaluation.
Several law enforcement officers were present while Holmes was evaluated at Wake Med’s emergency department, providing security due to Holmes’s combative and disruptive conduct. II. In the ER, Holmes urinated on the floor. Hospital staff then provided Holmes with a plastic receptacle to be used as a urinal.
Due to Holmes’s continued combative and disruptive behavior, he was placed in an isolation room and given an injection of Haldol, which he resisted. After he received the injection, Holmes stated that he needed to urinate again. When the nurse handed Holmes the plastic receptacle that he had used as a urinal, Holmes threw it and the container hit an ER nurse, soaking her uniform.
As a result of the conduct described above, Holmes was charged with multiple criminal offenses in Wake County Superior Court.
On 31 August 2015, Holmes pled guilty to the following criminal offenses arising from the events of 10 August 2013: two misdemeanor counts of assault on a government official, one misdemeanor count of attempted assault on emergency department personnel, and one misdemeanor count each of second degree trespass, intoxicated and disruptive, and resisting a public officer.
The attorney had been censured in 2010.
The discipline was imposed by consent. (Mike Frisch)