Exposed To Revocation
The Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board reciprocally revoked the license of an attorney sanctioned in West Virginia.
Herald Mail Media reported
A Charles Town attorney accused of exposing himself to a female client at his law office in May 2017 was sentenced Wednesday to one day in jail, fined $500 and ordered to register as a sexual offender for 10 years.
John Michael Cassell, 65, was sentenced after he pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure in Jefferson County (W.Va.) Magistrate Court.
Cassell’s plea was accepted by Berkeley County (W.Va.) Magistrate Harry L. Snow, who suspended all but one day of a one-year jail sentence for the conviction and placed the attorney on one year of unsupervised probation after the jail sentence.
“I feel for the victim,” Snow said after imposing the sentence.
In a tearful statement to the court, the victim asked the magistrate to order Cassell to be confined for an hour so he knows what it feels like to be trapped like she felt when Cassell initiated sexual contact with her at his law office on May 13, 2017.
The victim, who was 45 at the time, said that the defendant was her attorney in a previous case more than 12 years ago and “never once was out of character” with her at that time.
But in her May 13 meeting Cassell regarding a Social Security issue, the victim said she felt trapped by the defendant’s actions and didn’t know how to get out of the building.
During the encounter, the victim said she found herself gasping for air and thought “my life is going to end with him.”
Jefferson County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Timothy D. Helman said that Cassell exerted his power and influence as an attorney to pursue sexual contact with a client.
“He invited her there on a nonbusiness day,” Helman said.
Defense attorney James T. Kratovil described the incident as a tragedy for all parties involved and issued an apology on Cassell’s behalf.
Kratovil also said that Cassell faces civil punishment by the state as a practicing attorney and that would be another tragedy for him.
Cassell, who was admitted to the West Virginia State Bar on Jan. 22, 1985, served as a Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney from 1985 to Feb. 1, 2005, and acted as legal adviser on the county’s zoning ordinance.
The victim told police last year that she initially contacted Cassell regarding a Social Security benefits claim and that Cassell had offered her a job to do light-duty work at his office.
The woman had told police that Cassell said that her role at the office would be as a “fill-in” and that he asked her if she would be willing to learn anything else, court records said.
At one point during the meeting, the woman told police that Cassell asked her what she thought about being his “playmate,” then started kissing her face, records said.
The woman told police that the defendant exposed himself to her shortly after being kissed, and that he initiated more physical contact with her, records said.
Charles Town Police Department Detective Cpl. Alissa J. Meeks said Wednesday that it is her belief that Cassell took advantage of a community member, describing the defendant’s actions as “appalling.”
(Mike Frisch)