Court Opinion

ID: 9660572
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:16:14.097954+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:20.691043
License: Public Domain

GREENHILL, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the dissenting opinion.
This court cannot, and should not, supervise by mandamus, the actions of all the trial courts in this State. This court, partially for that reason, has not heretofore issued a mandamus for denial of a summary *838judgment and should decline to do so here. There are, in my opinion, other ways in which the State Bar could have obtained the relief it sought.
Lest I be misunderstood, however, I think it should be stated that, in my opinion, Judge Heard erred in failing to suspend the license of Ronald Pruitt. The statute says that upon a conviction in any court of competent jurisdiction of any felony involving moral turpitude, “the district court . shall enter our order suspending the attorney . . . .” In my opinion the Legislature intended that “shall” means “shall” and not “may.”
This means that the license shall be suspended upon a conviction in a trial court. It does not mean that the license shall not be suspended until the conviction is affirmed. The statute provides for disbarment, not suspension, upon an affirmance of the conviction. And, as the majority opinion states, the conviction of mail fraud is clearly the conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.