Opinion ID: 1837967
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: disbarment (watkins ii)

Text: The Bar's Formal Complaint for Disbarment arises out of Watkins' guilty plea and subsequent sentencing in U.S. District Court on multiple felony counts of financial institution fraud and false statements to influence actions of a federally insured financial institution. Watkins pleaded guilty to three counts of a six-count indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The June 5, 1991, Judgment and Probation/Commitment Order from the district court indicates that Watkins pleaded guilty to the offenses proscribed in 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1014 and 1344 and secured dismissal of the other three counts of the six-count indictment. The Order also imposes concurrent sentences of five years' probation for each count and requires Watkins to pay a fine of $5,000, to make restitution to Southeast National Bank of Hammond, Louisiana, in the sum of $27,174.54, to make restitution to Pelican Homestead Bank of Metarie, Louisiana, in the sum of $107,335.00, and to pay a special assessment in the amount of $150.00. The sentence further requires Watkins to perform 300 hours of community service, to obtain approval from the probation officer before incurring new or additional credit, to provide a financial statement twice a year to the probation officer along with any financial information requested, and to report to the probation officer any transactions that involve the sale or resale of personal, family, or business properties. Miss. Rules of Discipline, Rule 6(a) provides: Whenever any attorney subject to the disciplinary jurisdiction of the Court shall be convicted in any court of any state or in any federal court, or enter a plea of guilty ... therein, of any felony (other than manslaughter) ... a certified copy of the judgment of conviction shall be presented to the Court of Complaint Counsel and shall be conclusive evidence thereof. The Court shall then forthwith strike the name of the attorney and order his immediate suspension from the practice of law. Rules 6.1  6.2 further provide: A Formal Complaint, with a certified copy of the criminal judgment or conviction attached, and a motion for indefinite suspension pending appeals shall be filed with the Court, upon which the attorney shall be automatically suspended subject to the right of such attorney to move for reconsideration upon a showing that the judgment or conviction has been reversed or a new trial is granted... . Upon a showing that the time for all appeals has expired, or that all appeals have been concluded without reversal, the attorney shall be automatically disbarred. All elements of the above-quoted rules are satisfied (including the attachment to the Bar's complaint of a certified copy of the criminal judgment). Since Watkins pleaded guilty to the crimes out of which the Bar's complaint arises and consented to the Judgment and Commitment, [1] no appeal will be forthcoming. Further, Watkins has responded neither to the complaint nor to this Court's customary order to show cause. Automatic disbarment is thus appropriate under Rule 6.2 of the Mississippi Rules of Discipline. See Mississippi State Bar v. Nichols, 562 So.2d 1285, 1288 (Miss. 1990) (guilty plea to felony offense, inter alia, warranted disbarment).