Court Opinion

ID: 9791314
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:08:50.91559+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:35.371740
License: Public Domain

MOELLER, Justice,
specially concurring.
My review of the record leads me to conclude that the Bar failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that respondent committed the violation charged in Count II. A large part of the majority’s opinion relative to this count is based on the assertion that the respondent committed an ethical violation when he failed to secure the admission into evidence of his client’s medical records at the release hearing. My reading of the record shows that respondent reviewed the medical records, found much in them harmful to his client’s cause, and made a judgment call that he would not put the written records into evidence. Instead, he orally introduced into evidence the contents of portions of the records, and only those portions, which were helpful to his client. Some may opt for a different strategy, particularly with the benefit of hindsight. But there was no adequate showing that respondent breached the ethical code in proceeding in the manner in which he proceeded. Nevertheless, I concur in the issuance of a censure because, with respect to Count I, I agree that respondent had a woefully inadequate bookkeeping system, that his lack of such a system constituted an ethical violation, and that a censure is an appropriate remedy on the Count I violation. Because the restitu*435tion order of the majority is apparently based on Count II, I would not impose it.