Opinion ID: 1377729
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Count IIIHewitt Grasty

Text: On September 8, 1995, the complainant, Hewitt Grasty was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated robbery. Keenan was appointed by the Circuit Court of Fayette County to represent Mr. Grasty in September, 1995. Keenan negotiated a plea agreement with the prosecuting attorney on behalf of Mr. Grasty. The plea agreement was accepted by Mr. Grasty, and by the circuit court on March 14, 1996. Mr. Grasty entered both a written and an oral plea of guilty before the court. During the hearing, Mr. Grasty indicated that he was satisfied with Keenan's representation. Apparently Mr. Grasty had second thoughts about the plea agreement and Keenan's representation, and on September 23, 1996, he filed an ethics complaint alleging that Keenan had violated various rules of professional conduct. On December 5, 1996, the ODC sent a copy of the ethics complaint to Keenan instructing him to respond to the complaint within 10 days. Keenan did not respond to the ODC. On March 3, 1997, the ODC sent a second request to Keenan asking him to respond to the complaint. Keenan responded on March 13, 1997. After a review of the evidence, the Board found that Keenan had not violated the Rules of Professional Conduct with respect to his representation of Mr. Grasty. However, the Board charged Keenan with violating Rule 8.1(b) [7] for failing to respond to the ODC's inquiry in a timely manner. Keenan stipulated to the charge made by the Board.