Opinion ID: 1997580
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: chisholm's defense

Text: Before the Hearing Committee, Chisholm gave what Bar Counsel has aptly characterized as a bizarre explanation for his abandonment of Mr. Morris. Chisholm asserted in his opening statement: I will prove that almost everything in this case is a fraud, perpetrated for the ploy of allowing a convicted drug offender to stay in the United States and sell his illegal wares and be able to go back to Jamaica because he is still a citizen of Jamaica and bring the drugs into the United States because he is going to have possibly a permanent residency here. Chisholm stated that he had the compunction any citizen would have about people who come into the country to sell drugs, and that he did not wish to protect people who do that. In the context of this unflattering assessment of his former client's cause, Chisholm made several contentions in his defense. First, he asserted that he was not retained to handle Morris' immigration case at all. Second, he claimed that Morris did not contact him upon his release from prison and would not cooperate with him. Third, Chisholm argued that an appeal to the BIA would have been futile because Morris had the burden of establishing that he had been rehabilitated, and Morris' criminal record was antithetical to the notion of rehabilitation. Chisholm also asserted that Morris was a career criminal who could not be believed. Chisholm testified that he did not enter his appearance on Morris' behalf. He claimed that he had not yet accepted the case, and that Morris had never authorized him to represent Morris before the BIA. Chisholm asserted that he wanted to examine Morris' immigration file before deciding whether to represent Morris, but that he was unable to do so because Morris did not come to his office to sign a Form G-28. [6] When Chisholm was confronted with the receipt which he had given to Mrs. Morgan upon receiving an advance payment of $1,000 for services in Immigration Case, he responded that he originally thought that he had been retained, but that his perception later changed because Morris would not come to see him. Chisholm acknowledged that he never informed anyone that he was not representing Chisholm in the immigration matter. Chisholm also asserted that he had never agreed to file an appeal from the deportation order against Morris. He claimed that Morris had not authorized him to do so, and that in light of Morris' criminal record, an appeal would have been frivolous in any event. Although Chisholm recalled speaking with Maggio over the telephone following Morris' release from prison, he denied that he told Maggio that he was taking over the immigration appeal. Chisholm agreed that Morris called him on the morning after Morris' release from prison. He testified that he could not then assist Morris with his immigration problem because he had been unable to obtain Morris' file from the INS without a Form G-28. Without that file, Chisholm explained, he was unable to evaluate Morris' legal options. Chisholm asserted that thereafter, he was unable to contact Morris because he did not know Morris' address or telephone number. Chisholm introduced into evidence copies of letters which he claimed to have sent to Morris on October 15, 1987, March 17, 1988, and August 3, 1988. In those letters, Chisholm purportedly instructed Morris to come to see him and to execute a G-28 form so that the representation could proceed. A serious question was raised at the hearing regarding the authenticity of these letters, and the Hearing Committee explicitly discounted them. [7] Finally, the Hearing Committee received evidence relating to Chisholm's physical and emotional health. Chisholm advised Bar Counsel in January 1993 that he was suffering from incurable diseases and have some decrease in my brain functions. In 1993, facing an investigation by disciplinary authorities in Maryland for alleged neglect of a client matter, for charging an unreasonable fee, for pleading inaccurate and scandalous allegations, and for contempt of a California child support order, Chisholm agreed to be placed on inactive status in Maryland; Chisholm stated that his physical condition required him to retire from the active practice of law. [8] He took no similar action in the District. Chisholm was subsequently restored to active status in Maryland without any disciplinary action having been taken against him.