Court Opinion

ID: 9761245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:35:52.067303+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:21.033766
License: Public Domain

Smith, J.,

dissenting:

In this case my colleagues and the majority of the Board of Law Examiners have overriden the unanimous finding of the Character Committee for the Third Judicial Circuit that this applicant is not possessed of the moral character requisite for admission to the Bar of Maryland. I shall deal more fully with applicant’s past criminal conduct than has the majority.
Applicant was born October 11, 1945. As the majority notes, he comes from no deprived background. Both of his parents are lawyers. He married April 2, 1964. He had one child before he was graduated from one of our institutions of higher learning in May 1967. He entered law school that fall. About the time that he was graduating from college and entering law school he apparently began to have difficulty in molding his acts to the established mores of society.
The State Board of Law Examiners described the first incident:
"In March 1967, Applicant, his sister, Janet..., and one Nancy ..., conspired to forge the endorsement on a check in the amount of $1600. According to the Applicant, his mother owed Janet .. . that amount and had drawn a check on the Old Line National Bank. Applicant persuaded his sister to give him the check. He then enlisted Nancy ... to open a savings account at Suburban Trust Company in the name of Janet... and to deposit the $1600 check.
*318"Applicant furnished [Nancy] with his sister’s motor vehicle operator’s license and social security card for identification. [Nancy] endorsed the check 'Janet ...’ and deposited it. After the check had cleared, Applicant then had [Nancy] withdraw $1590 from the account in the form of a treasurer’s check. [Nancy] was to receive $100 for her services. Several days later, Janet ... reported to Old Line National Bank that the $1600 check given her by her mother had been lost or stolen. [Nancy] turned the money over to Applicant.
"Upon investigation by the police, and with the apparent cooperation of Nancy ..., Applicant was arrested on August 26, 1967 and indicted in Montgomery County for conspiracy to forge a bank check. He subsequently pleaded nolo contendere to the charge and received, a suspended sentence on September 26, 1968, thirteen months after the event.”
The applicant explained when he appeared before the Character Committee:
"Q The check cleared the bank?
"A Yes, the check had cleared the bank from my mother. As a matter of fact, what had happened was Nancy ... opened up an account and, as a matter of fact, for the purpose of letting it clear, because we knew walking in with a $1,600 check to a girl at about, I guess, 18 or 19, probably wouldn’t be cashed, so she opened up an account and let the check clear. After it cleared, she then withdrew the money.
"Q And gave it to your sister?
"A She gave it to me, initially. I gave Nancy a hundred dollars for doing it.
"Q And gave the rest —
"A To my sister. In waiting, although I wanted to be so nice in waiting — nice is the wrong word — *319but waiting for them to recredit it with my mother and have my mother give my sister a check and —
"Q (Mr. Bounds) And you were going to get your share then?
"A That’s correct.
"Q (Mr. Zink) In order for that to happen, somebody would have to indicate the forgery had been made on the check. Normally, that would involve, I suppose, your sister going to your mother and saying the check had been lost or something and saying that’s not my signature, have your mother go back to the bank, unbeknownst to her as to what was going on, and request the bank to recredit the account?
"A My mother did that, but they then investigated, you know, they sent a policeman out and investigated the case and it sounded preposterous to him, rightfully so, the $1,600 check along with everything, I.D.’s missing the exact instance my sister, Jan, is supposed to be down in Florida on vacation, and the timing was preposterous. He advised, I believe it was Suburban Trust, not to pay off on the claim.
"Q Your mother didn’t insist it be paid off?
"A Not when she found out what happened.
"Q So the investigation by the Police Department and the coming to light of the facts was almost simultaneous, I assume?
"A Yes, sir, although the arrest, as you can see, took place about, roughly, four months later.”
Applicant was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and incarcerated as a result of a scheme in which purchases were made on a misappropriated credit card. The presentence report indicates that this misappropriation took place in April 1967. The Board of Law Examiners said of that incident:
*320"At about the time Applicant was conspiring to defraud the Bank in the $1600 scam, the same Nancy ..., who was an employee of Sears, Roebuck .& Co., came into possession of a Sears credit card issued to one Charles Bailey. According to Applicant 'she came into possession of a credit card made out to a Charles Bailey because, due to a computer error, two of them were sent to Mr. Bailey and he returned one. She got a credit card and approached me on the idea of charging it up.’ Applicant used the card to charge $1854 in Sears merchandise, some of which he gave to [Nancy]. The Applicant forged the name of Charles Bailey each time he used the credit card and frankly admitted he was 'trying to get as high a figure as possible. . . .’
"It wasn’t until January 26, 1968 that Applicant was arrested by the District of Columbia police and charged with forgery and uttering in connection with the misuse of the Sears credit card. He was released on bond the same day. He was not tried until April 28, 1969 at which time he was found guilty on five counts of forgery and uttering. He was sentenced on June 27,1969 to twenty months to five years in prison at the Lorton, Virginia correctional complex. His actual incarceration began on November 23, 1970, following appeal. The record discloses that restitution was made prior to his arrest for this offense.”
The reported opinion on his appeal states that he was convicted on not five but six counts of forgery and uttering. It is of interest to this member of the Court that although the presentence investigation recommended probation, in its comment upon applicant’s desire to become a lawyer the observation was made, "[I]t seems unlikely to us that he would be accepted by a bar.” It is obvious that the trial judge did not deem probation as proper in applicant’s case.
Yet another incident was related by the Board of Law Examiners:
*321"On July 15, 1967, Applicant was charged with disorderly conduct arising from an incident which occurred at the Millersville, Maryland police station. According to the Applicant, he had entered into the station to recover a jacket belonging to a friend. He apparently became annoyed because the officer in charge did not immediately give him the jacket and, after an exchange of words, Applicant was arrested and was placed on bond and the charge was ultimately dismissed. The record discloses no official disposition.”
This incident would have no significance in my evaluation of his character but for the fact that he gave the name of his brother when he was arrested rather than his own.
The final incident in 1967 led to his conviction in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. The Board of Law Examiners summarized that incident:
"Late on the night of October 29,1967, Applicant and three friends were returning home from a Halloween party when their vehicle experienced mechanical difficulties. The driver, one Michael Pohling, drove into a service station where he became involved in an altercation with the attendant which resulted in a stabbing of the attendant by Pohling. During the altercation, Applicant got out of the car and waited on several customers and apparently made some effort to break up the argument without success. Applicant, Pohling and their friends left the scene of the stabbing but were arrested approximately a mile from the scene when the car again malfunctioned. The Applicant was in possession of the knife when he was arrested.
"In recounting how he came into possession of the knife, Applicant said: 'After Lew stabbed the guy and was going to throw away the evidence, I told him to give it to me and when the police found it, rather than throw it away, I had it in my blue dress shirt pocket and it was sticking there.’
*322"He reasoned that if the police believed that Pohling stabbed the attendant but found the knife in possession of Applicant, that no one could be convicted of the crime. He stated'... it was all crazy and stupid and an obstruction, of justice to some degree, except I didn’t say anything to the police. It was absolutely crazy.’
"Applicant, Pohling and the third occupant of the car were all charged with murder, assault and related charges and were incarcerated without bond until December 1967. Pohling was subsequently convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to twelve years in prison. Applicant was released on $500 bond in December 1967 and ultimately entered a plea of nolo contendere to simple assault for which he received a suspended sentence.”
The applicant told the Character Committee that the knife in question was "at least eight inches” long. He indicated to the committee that although he "didn’t say anything” he had in mind that his taking the knife would confuse the police.
A brief synopsis of the filling station incident is found in Poling v. State, 6 Md. App. 45, 250 A.2d 126, cert. denied, 255 Md. 743 (1969), where Judge Thompson said for the Court of Special Appeals:
"There was evidence from which the jury could have found:
"That Poling became involved in a bizarre argument with the operator of a filling station; that after having pushed the operator he, Poling, pulled a knife and stabbed the victim to death; and the victim had no weapon in his hand and was backing away from Poling at the time of the stabbing. There was some indication that money was stolen, but that evidence was not necessary to support the verdict of second degree murder.” 6 Md. App. 46-47.
*323The trial judge in the knife incident (Turnbull, J.) referred the applicant to the court psychiatrist. The concluding sentence of that report states, "At this point both Dr. Lassen and I feel that although it is quite unlikely that James will be involved in a situation relating to homicide it is quite likely that he will find himself involved in some other difficulty.” Dr. Lassen was the court psychologist associated with the psychiatrist. No later evaluation by a psychiatrist or psychologist is contained in the file before the Court.
The dissenting members of the State Board of Law Examiners observed in this case:
"Applicant in 1967 at age 21, committed the crimes of conspiracy to forge a bank check, and forgery and uttering in connection with misuse of a credit card. These are, in our opinion, crimes committed through connivance, subterfuge and stealth, activities particularly undesirable in a lawyer. Because of the nature of these crimes the Character Committee, understandably questioned the validity of certain letters offered by applicant. Crimes such as these cast in doubt the truthworthiness of the perpetrator. To us, the nature of the crimes in this instance is analogous, to that in In Re Application of K.B., 291 Md. 170 [, 434 A.2d 541. (1981),] rather than to that in In Re Application of G.L.S., 292 Md. 378 [, 439 A.2d 1107 (1982)]. The temptations facing lawyers lead more often to crimes of stealth and subterfuge than to crimes of confrontation such as armed robbery. We are of the opinion that wrongdoing of this type requires closer scrutiny than other failings.”
The majority of the Board of Law Examiners relied upon In Re Application of G.L.S., 292 Md. 378, 439 A.2d 1107 (1982), where the court, over the objection of Judge Digges, Judge Rodowsky, and me, admitted to practice an individual who had been convicted of armed robbery. That was his only of fense. In In Re Application of K.B., 291 Md. 170, 434 A.2d *324541 (1981), cited by the dissenters, we unanimously denied an application for admission to the Bar where, in his sole slip from grace, an individual had been convicted of mail fraud involving use of fictitious names in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1342 (1976). Judge Rodowsky concluded that opinion for the Court by stating:
"We glean from the record as a whole the very distinct impression that this applicant’s past criminal problem resulted from the perceived necessity to maintain a desired level of social prestige which, in this case, involved operating a car, and from a willingness to risk violating serious criminal laws in order to do so. Every experienced practitioner knows of cases where an attorney has yielded to the temptation to 'borrow’ clients’ funds entrusted to him because of the pressure to maintain a certain social status while waiting for some fees to come in. It is because of the great risk to the public in admitting to the Bar one who has exhibited this serious character flaw that we require the evidence of present moral fitness to 'unequivocally demonstrate ... full and complete rehabilitation.’ In re Application of David H., supra, 283 Md. at 641, 392 A.2d at 88.” 291 Md. at 181.
We have here not one instance but four instances of applicant’s deceit. The service station incident, of course, involves more than deceit but deceit is a principal ingredient since he said he took the knife to confuse the police.
Given this man’s record, I am unwilling to certify to the people of Maryland that he has the requisite moral character to handle the affairs of others.
I am authorized to state that Judge Rodowsky concurs with the views herein expressed.