Opinion ID: 854124
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cause 361Count One

Text: In January 1991, Respondent agreed to represent Penny Adkins Lambert in the dissolution of her marriage to Michael Lambert. Michael Lambert was a suspect in the murder of a Muncie police officer and was incarcerated at that time. Penny Lambert was eighteen years old when she consulted with Respondent about her divorce. At the time she decided to divorce Michael Lambert, Ms. Lambert frequented an establishment in Muncie called the Southside Gun Shop. Respondent had on other occasions represented the owner and two employees of the Southside Gun Shop. Ms. Lambert told Jim Crowder at the Southside Gun Shop that she did not have money for a divorce or for an attorney. Crowder referred Ms. Lambert to Respondent to serve as her lawyer. She then made an appointment in early 1991 to see Respondent about a divorce. Based on the referral from Crowder, Ms. Lambert's expectation was that she would pay Respondent for any legal services with sexual favors. Respondent agreed to represent Penny Lambert in a divorce proceeding and he did in fact file a dissolution petition on her behalf in Delaware Superior Court 3 on January 4, 1991. Ms. Lambert had sexual relations with Respondent in exchange for this representation and she continued to have a sexual relationship with him until sometime in 1994. On occasion, Respondent gave Ms. Lambert cash in exchange for sex and also on occasion he gave her cash when no sex occurred. Respondent told her to use a different last name than Lambert when she called his office and she complied with this request. Respondent told Ms. Lambert that if anyone ever asked how she paid for his services, she should state that her father had paid. After initially filing the dissolution petition on behalf of Ms. Lambert in Delaware Superior Court 3, Respondent subsequently requested and obtained its dismissal days later on January 17, 1991. Early in 1991, two newspaper articles apparently were published about Michael Lambert and the police officer shooting in which it was mentioned that Lambert's wife had sought a divorce in Delaware County and that Respondent was her lawyer. Subsequent to the dismissal of the petition, Respondent had another discussion with Penny Lambert, advising her that he would obtain a divorce for her in Henry County because of her last name and the publicity in Muncie. Around March of 1992, Respondent gave Ms. Lambert what appeared on its face to be a legitimate divorce decree from the Henry Circuit Court. The document purported to grant her a divorce from Michael Lambert and to give Ms. Lambert legal custody of her child. [3] The purported dissolution and custody decree facially appears to have been issued by the Henry Circuit Court. The cause number on the document is 33CO1-9201-DR-004. The clerk's file stamp over the cause number indicates the document was purportedly filed with the court on March 13, 1992. The purported decree is comprised of one single sheet of paper, in three connected sections. The third section contains the signature stamp of Respondent as if recommending approval of the decree in his capacity as part-time commissioner in that court. It also contains the signature stamp of the Circuit Court Judge, John Kellam, as if ordering the dissolution. The document has no legal validity and is a fraudulent document. The cause number on the decree is a cause number assigned to another, unrelated case. No Lambert dissolution petition had been filed in Henry County prior to March 13, 1992, the purported date of the dissolution. File stamps were generally accessible to officials and employees of the Henry Circuit Court, to the Henry County Clerk's office, and to Respondent. Neither the clerk nor Judge Kellam authorized the use of their file stamps on the document. The decree is on a form generally available in the offices of the Henry County Clerk and is the same general form signed and dated by Respondent on other occasions in recommending or ordering final decrees of dissolution. The date line relating to the date of the judges' purported actions is filled in with the handwritten numbers and words 13, March, and 92. Sgt. Frederick Panhorst of the Indiana State Police, a handwriting analysis expert, testified conclusively that the handwritten word March on the fraudulent decree was written by the same person whose handwriting was on the exemplars he analyzed. The exemplars used by Panhorst were taken from a collection of valid decrees and orders from the Henry Circuit Court in 1992 and 1993, each bearing the handwritten word March. The parties stipulated that the handwritten word March on the exemplars was in Respondent's handwriting. Respondent admitted that the handwritten word March on the fraudulent decree is in his handwriting. Although Respondent denied that the number 13 preceding the word March on the fraudulent decree is in his handwriting, Panhorst testified that the number 13 and the word March were written in ink from the same ink formula. We agree with the conclusion of the Masters that Respondent was responsible for the preparation of the fraudulent dissolution decree. Respondent advised Penny Lambert that this document represented that she had legitimately been divorced in the Henry Circuit Court and that she had been awarded custody of her child. Ms. Lambert believed Respondent's misrepresentations about her divorce and the child custody order. Respondent also advised Ms. Lambert he would notify Michael Lambert, who was incarcerated, about the divorce. Penny Lambert herself sent word to her husband that they were divorced. The fake decree surfaced sometime later during an adoption proceeding in Delaware Superior Court involving Penny Lambert's child. At that time, the decree was revealed to be fraudulent. Judge Kellam would ultimately find out about the fake decree and question Respondent about it. Respondent's story, as expressed to Judge Kellam at the time, was that someone had taken and misused a signature stamp. Judge Kellam told Respondent that he should not use Judge Kellam's signature stamp on documents on which he was recommending actions to be taken by the judge because, in effect, he was approving his own recommendation. Respondent told Judge Kellam he had not used his stamp in that way. However, Respondent did subsequently use Judge Kellam's signature stamp inappropriately on some probate documents. Upon discovering that the decree was of no legal effect and that she had not actually been divorced in Henry Circuit Court, Ms. Lambert contacted Respondent. He advised her that there may have been a glitch in the computer system causing the decree to become lost. Respondent told Ms. Lambert he needed some information from her to put the divorce back in the computer and he dictated to her what to write down. On January 4, 1994, Respondent appeared in the office of the Henry County Clerk's office and presented a handwritten dissolution petition relating to the Lambert marriage. The contents of this handwritten petition were dictated to Penny Lambert by Respondent and are in her handwriting, although she did not know it was to be filed. Although Respondent himself brought the petition into the Clerk's office and paid the $55.00 filing fee, his name appears nowhere on the petition. At the time of the filing, Henry County Deputy Clerk Anita Dalton inquired of Respondent about the propriety of a part-time commissioner filing a pleading in Henry Circuit Court. Respondent advised her he would get out of the case. Dalton indicated to Respondent that the handwritten petition was junk, and he responded, Maybe so, but . . . she really needs to get it filed. Telephone records show that a call was made to Penny Lambert's residence from Respondent's line at the Henry Circuit Court on the day the petition was filed. Similar calls are reflected in the telephone records for other dates in early 1994. Ms. Lambert testified that she had given her telephone number to Respondent and that she would not have been receiving calls from anyone else in the Henry County court system. The telephone calls are consistent with Ms. Lambert's testimony about the duration of her relationship with Respondent. On March 1, 1994, Judge Robert Barnet of Delaware Superior Court 1 presided over a proceeding in which the state sought to terminate the parental rights of Penny Lambert in order to make her child available for adoption. Ms. Lambert was present at the hearing. Ms. Lambert had discussed the hearing with Respondent after it was scheduled and asked him if he knew any way she could get her son back. Respondent told Ms. Lambert he knew Judge Barnet and that he played cards and had dinner with him sometimes. Respondent indicated he would talk to Judge Barnet and see which way he was going to lean. During the adoption hearing, Penny Lambert referred Judge Barnet to the fraudulent decree containing the purported custody decree and advised Judge Barnet that Respondent had represented her in obtaining her divorce and legal custody of her child. Ms. Lambert told Judge Barnet during the hearing that the divorce decree was not in the computer and was being redone. Judge Barnet ultimately entered an order terminating Penny Lambert's parental rights and granting the adoption. After losing her child in the adoption, Ms. Lambert discontinued the relationship with Respondent. During the termination hearing, Judge Barnet observed that Respondent's signature stamp was on the decree, whereas Penny Lambert had indicated Respondent was her attorney. After the hearing, Judge Barnet investigated the validity of the decree and determined that the cause number was that of another unrelated case. Judge Barnet contacted and met personally with Respondent. Judge Barnet asked Respondent if he had represented Penny Lambert, and he said he had not. Judge Barnet asked Respondent to go back to his office and check his files. Respondent later called Judge Barnet and stated that he found no file indicating he had represented Penny Lambert. Judge Barnet then wrote a letter to Judge John Kellam advising him about the events that occurred during the termination proceeding. He enclosed a copy of the fake decree and advised Judge Kellam about Penny Lambert's statements that Respondent had given her the decree in his capacity as her lawyer. Judge Kellam then inquired of Respondent about the decree. Respondent told Judge Kellam that he did not know Ms. Lambert and never had a connection with her. Only when the dissolution proceeding instituted by the handwritten petition filed by Respondent came before the Henry Circuit Court did Respondent advise Judge Kellam that he had looked at his records and determined he had represented Ms. Lambert in 1991 in Delaware County, at which time Judge Kellam disqualified himself from the case involving the handwritten petition. Respondent did not advise either Judge Barnet or Judge Kellam of his 1994 contacts with Penny Lambert nor did he tell them that he had prepared the fraudulent divorce decree. Respondent's denials in 1994 to Judge Barnet and Judge Kellam that he had not represented Penny Lambert were knowingly false and not attributable to any lapse in memory. In an answer to an interrogatory asking about consultations with Penny Lambert either personally or by telephone, Respondent stated that his contact with Ms. Lambert was limited to two consultations in 1991. This assertion was also false, and Respondent admitted as much at trial. In sum, Respondent was responsible for the creation of a fake dissolution decree. He provided it to Penny Lambert, his client, with the false representation that she had obtained a divorce and legal custody of her child when in fact neither event had occurred. Respondent lied to Judges Barnet and Kellam about his representation of Ms. Lambert. Respondent performed legal services for Ms. Lambert in exchange for sexual favors. He gave her the impression he might be able to influence or find out confidential information about a termination of parental rights proceeding pending against her before another judge. After falsely advising Ms. Lambert he had obtained a divorce for her, in 1994 Respondent instituted a legitimate divorce action on her behalf without her knowledge in the same court in which he served as a probate commissioner.
The facts found with regard to Count One in Cause Number 18S00-9706-JD-361 demonstrate that Respondent violated Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(b), which provides generally that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer and Rule 8.4(c), which provides generally that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. Respondent also violated Rule 3.3, which generally prohibits a lawyer from knowingly making a false statement of material fact to a tribunal, and Rule 8.4(e), which provides generally that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to state or imply an ability to influence improperly a government agency or official. Respondent also violated the following Rules of Professional Conduct: Rule 1.1, which provides generally that a lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client; Rule 1.3, which provides generally that a lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client; Rule 1.4, which provides generally that a lawyer shall keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter, shall promptly comply with reasonable requests for information, and shall explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed decisions regarding the representation; Rule 1.7(b), which provides generally that a lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation of that client may be materially limited by the lawyer's own interests; and Rule 8.4(d), which provides generally that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice. The facts found with regard to Count One in Cause Number 18S00-9706-JD-361 also demonstrate that Respondent violated Canon 1 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which generally requires a judge to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary and Canon 2(A), which generally requires judges to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety and to conduct themselves at all times in a manner promoting public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. Respondent also committed willful misconduct in office and engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, grounds for discipline pursuant to Admis.Disc.R. 25(III)(A).