Lawyers behaving badly — make that feloniously

I occasionally post about lawyers or judges behaving badly. This case may just be the worst. A 47 year old Seattle lawyer is charged with seven felonies, including four counts of rape in attacks against several women, all massage therapists or massage clinic employees. At least one attack is alleged to have been at knifepoint. In another, he allegedly raped a clinic cashier in her car after falsely identifying himself as a police officer. All victims were of Asian descent, and one article says they may have had limited English; that makes me wonder whether they were chosen in part because of their vulnerability, and raises the possibility of an enhanced sentence, if he is convicted.

Needless to say, his wife–a city prosecutor–has filed for separation, and his law firm quickly disassociated him and reformed without him. Safe to say that if convicted of any felony counts, he will be disbarred. (There’s a discussion of grounds for disbarrment and other forms of discipline in Books, Crooks and Counselors, in the Legal Ethics chapter.)

Here’s the latest account from the Seattle Times; see the “Related Articles” in the sidebar for more.

I really, really wish I was making this up.

2 thoughts on “Lawyers behaving badly — make that feloniously

  1. Interesting, Leslie. I’m going to introduce a lawyer to my small town in my next book, mostly because I don’t have one. I don’t think he’ll be found guilty of any crime in the next book, but maybe in a subsequent book. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more crimes a lawyer can commit besides rape.

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