Opinion ID: 2266107
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Committee's Findings On the Kersey Defense

Text: Although respondent concedes that he intentionally misappropriated client funds (while disputing when the misappropriation actually occurred) and that mandatory disbarment would ordinarily flow from such conduct, he contends that pursuant to Kersey, he should not be disbarred because his misconduct was caused by clinical depression and excessive alcohol consumption. There was no serious dispute that respondent suffered from an alcoholism-induced impairment that substantially affected his professional conduct from approximately March 1991 onward. Had the misappropriation occurred then, a Kersey defense might be sustainable if the other conditions are met. The hearing committee, however, as noted above, found that misappropriation occurred five or six months earlier, in October 1990. Respondent maintained that he was similarly impaired at that time, and in their respective efforts to prove or disprove that claim, considerable evidence was presented by respondent and Bar Counsel. Respondent called four expert witnesses, Bar Counsel called one; respondent also called several lay witnesses. Those witnesses presented the following picture of respondent's mental condition. Respondent called Dr. Stanton E. Samenow, a clinical psychologist, who first met with respondent on May 5, 1992. Dr. Samenow testified that respondent had been alcohol-dependent, and had used cocaine and alcohol, from 1988 through 1991, with the heaviest drinking and cocaine use occurring in March or April of 1991 and after. Dr. Samenow testified that he had no information concerning the quantity of alcohol respondent was drinking from 1988 through 1990, and he could not say how alcohol might have affected respondent's judgment before 1991. Dr. Ronald D. Wynne, a clinical psychologist, also called by respondent, described respondent's addiction as being a mixed chemical dependence, but could not say whether his misconduct was caused either by alcohol or cocaine usage, concluding that it is probably some combination of the two. Even though Dr. Wynne testified that respondent could be considered by any prudent professional an alcoholic at some point between 1988 and 1991, he conceded that the psychological tests performed did not give any indication in terms of years of the date respondent's judgment became impaired by alcoholism. Dr. Wynne did not diagnose respondent as suffering from depression. When asked what was the extent of respondent's drinking problem in October of 1990, Dr. Wynne testified: I think that ... maybe that was the first cracking of the armor. I think at that point, he was in, if you will, the kind of existential crisis that many people who have drunk heavily for years get in. Dr. Wynne opined that some condition must have been present at that time to affect respondent's judgment. He concluded that, but for the alcohol and cocaine use, respondent would not have misappropriated the estate funds. Dr. David T. George, a psychiatrist who treated respondent at the Suburban Hospital in November 1991, testified that he diagnosed respondent as suffering from situational depression [4] and alcohol abuse, a condition less serious than alcoholism or alcohol dependence. Dr. George did not detect any withdrawal symptoms, nor did respondent exhibit physiological evidence of alcohol dependence. Finally, Dr. George was unable to fix the date of the onset of respondent's alcohol abuse. Respondent also called Susan Makepeace, Director of the D.C. Bar's Lawyer Counseling Program who testified that she first saw respondent in April of 1992, concluding that he had a serious alcohol problem at that time. She referred him to the Kolmac Clinic which conducts an intensive, eighteen-month, out-patient program. Respondent, however, completed only three months of that program, claiming that he did not need the treatment. Among respondent's lay witnesses were personal friends, professional associates, and a former client. Each testified to some changes in respondent's social behavior and some professional lapses between 1989 and 1991. The former client testified that respondent failed to return a May 1990 telephone call and that respondent did not make contact until 1993 when he called to apologize for his conduct. His personal friends participated in an intervention in November of 1991 when they could no longer ignore the changes in his social behavior. Bar Counsel called Dr. Raymond F. Patterson, a psychiatrist, who testified that he met with respondent three times in April of 1993, and that he reviewed the records of Drs. Samenow and Wynne and those of Suburban Hospital and the Kolmac Clinic. His diagnosis of respondent included indications of alcohol dependence, cocaine abuse, and dysthymic disorder, defined as depressive symptoms, which was characterized as essentially a lesser or minor depression. Dr. Patterson testified that the closest point in time he could fix for the onset of actual deterioration in respondent's ability to function due to alcohol was between March and December of 1991. Dr. Patterson also testified that he was unable to say with professional certainty, whether respondent's judgment was impaired prior to March of 1991, or if it was impaired, the extent of any impairment. He opined that at the time respondent misappropriated his clients' funds (October 1990), he would have been able to form an intent to take money he knew did not belong to him, and would have known that such conduct was wrong. On the basis of this testimony, and for the reasons discussed below, the hearing committee concluded that respondent had not established that he suffered from alcoholism or depression at the time he misappropriated his clients' funds, an indispensable element of a Kersey defense. The hearing committee observed that, even though the medical evidence conclusively established respondent suffered, at some point, from a combination of alcohol abuse or dependence, cocaine abuse, depression, and possibly a personality disorder, these conditions were found to be medically disabling no earlier than March of 1991, and no later than November of that same year when respondent was hospitalized. See In re Miller, 553 A.2d 201, 205-06 (D.C. 1989). Therefore, because the misappropriation was found to have occurred in the fall of 1990 and respondent did not begin to suffer from alcoholism or depression until five or six months later, the hearing committee concluded that respondent could not invoke the Kersey defense. The hearing committee also found, assuming respondent was impaired by alcohol in late 1990, that he failed to show that the alcohol impairment substantially caused the misconduct or that he had since been rehabilitated. It recommended disbarment. Concurring in that recommendation, the Board agreed with the hearing committee's finding that there was no proof of alcoholism. The Board also found there had been no showing that the misconduct was substantially caused by alcoholism and that respondent failed to establish that he was rehabilitated.