“A TRUE C[**]T”

A reprimand issued today by the Maryland Court of Appeals

Carl Stephen Basinger (“Basinger”), Respondent, a member of the Bar of Maryland, and his sister-in-law, Rosina Keys (“Keys”), entered into an attorney-client relationship. After learning that Keys had denied that she had retained him, Basinger mailed to Keys letters in which he called Keys “A TRUE C[**]T” who had “finally f[***]ed up one time too many”; called Keys “a reprehensible human being” with “worthless progeny” and a “pathetic and dysfunctional world”; accused Keys of being lazy and dishonest, engaging in “defamation” and “absolute evil behavior[,]” and “trying to weasel [her] way out of paying the full amount of [a funeral chapel]’s bill”; suggested that Keys perhaps was responsible for her grandson’s death; stated that, if he ever saw her again, “it [would] be too soon”; and wished Keys “only the worst from here on out.” Keys filed a complaint against  against Basinger with the Attorney Grievance Commission (“the Commission”), Petitioner.

As to sanction

We note three aggravating factors: (1) a pattern of misconduct, as Basinger engaged in a pattern of numerous insults that spanned three letters; (2) refusal to acknowledge the wrongful nature of the misconduct; and (3) substantial experience in the practice of law, as Basinger has been a member of the Bar of Maryland for more than thirty years. We note one mitigating factor: the absence of prior attorney discipline.

We agree with the Commission that the appropriate sanction for Basinger’s misconduct is a reprimand, which should suffice to deter other lawyers from communicating with their clients in the egregiously unprofessional manner that Basinger employed.

For the above reasons, we reprimand Basinger.

(Mike Frisch)