Court Opinion

ID: 9775825
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:09:59.645735+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:31.188692
License: Public Domain

ROBERTSON, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
This Court has long defined moral turpitude as “an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellowmen or to society in general.” In re Frick, 694 S.W.2d 473, 479 (Mo. banc 1985). Rule 5.20, the basis for the Chief Disciplinary Counsel’s information, places a responsibility on this Court to impose a temporary suspension where an attorney licensed in this state is convicted of a “misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.” I do not believe that failure to pay federal income tax is a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. I respectfully dissent.
Courts across the nation have handled the interplay between federal tax law violations and moral turpitude unevenly.1 However, while it is true that all acts of moral turpitude bring into question the actor’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer, it is not true that all misdemeanors rise to the level of moral turpitude.
Mr. Duncan’s crime is not that he evaded his federal income tax. He did not fail to file his tax return, an act that demonstrates an intent to hide one’s tax liability from the government; nor did he file a false tax return. Instead, Mr. Duncan filed his tax return and, in effect, told the government that he owed them their tribute. He simply did not pay. This is not a vile, base, or depraved act. There is no purpose to deceive or defraud. It is the act of a man who spends his resources improvidently. Such an act does not constitute moral turpitude.
I dissent for a second reason. Rule 5.20(a) provides that where an attorney is “convicted of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or of any felony,” the lawyer must “show cause why the lawyer should not be suspended from the practice of law pending the final disposition of any disciplinary proceeding based upon such conviction.” Thus, the rule provides for a temporary suspension pending further disciplinary proceedings.
Rule 5.20(b) creates an exception to the general rule of temporary suspension pending disciplinary in actions where there is an appeal.
If the conviction is affirmed on appeal, ... the chief disciplinary counsel shall file with this Court a motion to discipline, ... whereupon the lawyer shall be subject to discipline by this Court without the requirement of any other proceeding.
[Emphasis added.] Rule 5.20(b) does not contemplate a summary procedure for guilty pleas. Noticeably absent is the language “when the conviction becomes final.”
Aside from my disagreement with the majority’s legal conclusion of moral turpitude, I do not believe Rule 5.20 can form the basis for discipline where there has been a guilty plea. One can hardly argue that the wording of Rule 5.20 is a model of clarity. Nevertheless, if one focuses on the words of Rule 5.20, it is obvious that it creates a temporary suspension from the practice of law pending: (a) the completion of a separate disciplinary proceeding under Rule 4; or (b) affirmance of a conviction following an appeal and summary disciplinary proceeding. Where there is no separate proceeding under Rule 4 and no possi*447bility of appeal, as with a guilty plea, Rule 5.20 does not permit this Court to transform a rule designed for temporary suspension into one permitting final discipline.
I respectfully dissent.

. Compare e.g., In re Fahey, 106 Cal.Rptr. 313, 505 P.2d 1369 (1973) (willful failure to file does not constitute per se moral turpitude); Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Walman, 280 Md. 453, 374 A.2d 354 (1977) (failure to file tax does not constitute per se moral turpitude unless surrounding facts demonstrate otherwise) with. e.g., Grievance Comm’n v. Pohlman, 248 N.W.2d 833, 835 (N.D.1976) (willful failure to file federal income tax is crime involving moral turpitude); Columbus Bar Ass'n v. Wolfe, 70 Ohio St.2d 55, 434 N.E.2d 1096 (1982) (conviction of willful failure to file tax return results in indefinite suspension).