Court Opinion

ID: 9563945
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:50:54.609367+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:09.284878
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Hall
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which provides for a two-years’ suspension of respondent’s privilege to practice law and his automatic reinstatement on expiration of said period. I am of the opinion that respondent should be permanently disbarred from the practice of law, that his name should be stricken from the roll of licensed attorneys, and that the respondent’s actions be referred to the district attorney of the City and County of Denver for such criminal prosecution as the facts and law may warrant.
Respondent by his answer and by his testimony before the referee, admits and confesses that in a case in which he was a defendant as well as of counsel, he knowingly testified falsely under oath to a material matter in a cause then on trial in the district court, all for the purpose of causing a miscarriage of justice. Having failed in the trial court, respondent brought the case to this Court on writ of error and in the proceedings on error, presented to this Court the record containing his perjured testimony and sought a reversal of the judgment of the trial court and urged or caused to be urged as a ground for reversal his perjured testimony.
Respondent’s license to practice law imposed upon him duties and obligations as well as to grant him privileges. He was an officer of the court where he was privileged to appear; he owed a duty to the judge, the witnesses, his opponents, to the public, and lastly but not least to himself — to be honest, truthful and helpful in presenting matters to the court, whether in his own behalf or in behalf of others, that justice might prevail. Unmindful of these obligations, unmindful of his oath of *549office, of the canons of ethics governing the conduct of lawyers, unmindful of the criminal laws which he knowingly offended, he proceeded with deliberation and cunning, scheming with a callousness that defies description to give false testimony in order to defeat the ends of justice.
In my opinion our judicial system, dependent upon the integrity of those selected to administer it, cannot survive if the practice of perjury and the practice of law are to go hand in hand, subject only to temporary restraint.
Respondent is a confessed perjurer and as such a confessed felon. C.R.S. ’53, 39-10-17, provides:
“Felony disqualifies from office. — Subject to the constitution of the state, every person convicted of felony shall from thenceforth be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the laws of this state, or practicing as an attorney in any of the courts of this state.”
True, respondent has not been convicted of perjury, but reason dictates that not only “convicted felons,” but “confessed felons” as well, should be disbarred from the practice of law.
I feel we should not use as a precedent herein the extreme leniency shown respondents in the two cases cited in the majority opinion. I prefer instead the reasoning and conclusion reached in 80 Colo. 220, 249 Pac. 1093, where the respondent was disbarred for subornation of perjury. That decision, in my humble opinion, is a proper precedent, if precedent were needed. The following language of the unanimous decision is applicable in the case now before us.
“We are called upon to say what will disqualify one to practice law. That question must be answered not from the standpoint of the individual, but from the standpoint of the commonwealth whose courts it is our solemn duty, so far as we are able, to maintain as ■ the citadels of justice, and perjury is the chief menace of justice. * * * *550A false oath was bought with which to paralyze a prosecution and material witnesses bribed to depart the jurisdiction. If one may do this and continue in the profession, for what offense will he be excluded?
“ * * * But a lawyer’s first duty is not to his client, it is to justice, and who so profanes the altar he serves must leave that service for the public safety.”
The report and recommendations of the referee for disbarment should be approved, respondent should be disbarred and his name stricken from the roll of licensed attorneys.