Opinion ID: 1057649
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Panel's Jurisdiction to Modify the Conditional Plea Agreement

Text: During oral argument before this Court, Rayburn, through his counsel, claimed for the first time that the Panel had exceeded its jurisdiction by modifying the terms of the conditional guilty plea offered by the BPR. This Court granted counsel permission to file a supplemental brief on the issue, and the BPR filed a response. Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, section 16.1 provides that an attorney who has been formally charged with violating the Rules of Professional Conduct may tender a conditional guilty plea at any stage of the proceedings. If the matter has been assigned for hearing, as was the case here, the guilty plea shall be approved or rejected by the Board upon recommendation of the hearing panel. Id. Approval of such a tendered plea by the Board . . . shall divest the hearing panel or trial court of further jurisdiction. Tenn. Sup.Ct. R. 9, § 16.2. In his post-argument brief, Rayburn describes the procedural history of his conditional plea agreement as follows: Prior to the scheduled hearing date the Disciplinary Counsel and [Rayburn] reached agreement on the terms of a proposed settlement. The proposed settlement was submitted by the Disciplinary Counsel to the Board. It then voted to accept the settlement. With the approval obtained from the Board the written Conditional Plea of Guilty was prepared by Disciplinary Counsel. The hearing panel was made aware prior to the scheduled hearing date that a Conditional Plea of Guilty had been reached with [Rayburn]. Rayburn contends that because the BPR had already approved a conditional guilty plea prior to the Panel hearing, the Panel was divested of jurisdiction under Supreme Court Rule 9, section 16.2. Because, Rayburn asserts, the Panel was without jurisdiction to modify the conditional guilty plea, its orders of April 5 and June 19, 2007 were void. Rayburn's argument is belied by the facts. While the record confirms that disciplinary counsel did discuss a proposed conditional guilty plea at the meeting of the BPR on March 23, 2007, it also establishes that Rayburn did not accept the terms of the conditional guilty plea until March 28th, the date of his hearing before the Panel. On March 23rd, therefore, the BPR had no conditional guilty plea to approve. Moreover, the proposed guilty plea that disciplinary counsel had presented to the BPR on March 23rd was modified, at Rayburn's request, at the hearing on March 28th in order to delay the suspension of Rayburn's law license until June 1, 2007. Finally, even if disciplinary counsel had actually presented the BPR with a conditional guilty plea on March 23rd, the BPR could not have given formal approval. Because the matter had been assigned for hearing by the Panel pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 9, section 8.2, any conditional guilty plea, by the terms of the rule, could only be approved or rejected by the Board upon recommendation of the hearing panel.  Tenn. Sup.Ct. R. 9, § 16.1 (emphasis added). Because the BPR did not approve a conditional guilty plea prior to the Panel hearing on March 28, 2007, Supreme Court Rule 9, section 16.2 is inapplicable. It was well within the jurisdiction of the Panel to both vacate the modified conditional guilty plea when Rayburn failed to timely notify his existing clients of his impending suspension by the established date, and enter the order of disbarment when Rayburn failed to appear at the June 5th hearing.