Opinion ID: 1232513
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: counts 10, 11, and 12bail and evidence money

Text: ¶ 44. Count 10 alleged a violation of SCR 20:1.15(a). [12] That rule requires a lawyer to hold in trust, separate from a lawyer's own property, the property of a client that is in the lawyer's possession. Knickmeier admitted this count of misconduct. ¶ 45. Count 11 alleged a violation of SCR 20:1.15(b). Knickmeier also admitted his violation of this rule which requires a lawyer to deliver promptly to a client any funds a client is entitled to receive and to render a full accounting regarding such property. ¶ 46. Count 12 alleged another violation of SCR 20:8.4(c) which prohibits a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. ¶ 47. At the hearing before the referee Knickmeier admitted and pled no contest to the misconduct as alleged in Counts 10 and 11 of the OLR complaint. The referee resolved Count 12 against Knickmeier based on the evidence at the hearing. These three counts related to bail money and cash seized from J.R. (apparently at the time of his arrest). There is no dispute that J.R. was entitled later to the return of the bail money and the seized cash which totaled $2200. Knickmeier retrieved those funds after J.R. went to prison; however, of that $2200, Knickmeier disbursed approximately only $700 on J.R.'s behalf. Of the remaining amount totaling $1471, Knickmeier admitted that he had deposited some of that money into his own personal savings account and used a portion of it for other personal matters. In addition, Knickmeier acknowledged at the hearing that he had not contemporaneously maintained trust account records with respect to this money; in fact, he had not developed the trust account records until after J.R.'s grievance was filed and he was required to provide documentation to the OLR. ¶ 48. After hearing the testimony and seeing the evidence on this cluster of misconduct counts, the referee described these actions stealing and found it to be an act of dishonesty for Knickmeier to take the $2200 belonging to J.R. and to use any portion of that money for his own purposes without giving the funds to J.R. or depositing them into his trust account. According to the referee, the clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence, established that Knickmeier had violated SCR 20:8.4(c) by taking money belonging to his client and by not depositing it into his trust account or giving it directly to his client. The referee determined that Knickmeier's actions in this respect constituted dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation in violation of SCR 20:8.4(c).