Court Opinion

ID: 9632419
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:14:22.348288+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:15.707461
License: Public Domain

Hill, J.
(dissenting)—If the court were to adopt an ironclad rule so that it followed, “as the night the day,” that any member of the bar who was convicted of a felony would be disbarred, I would concur.
Rule for Discipline of Attorneys 10 (1), 34A (2d) 183, is as follows:
“An attorney or counselor may be reprimanded, suspended or disbarred for any of the following causes:
“(1) His conviction of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, in which case the record of conviction shall be conclusive evidence.”
*943As long as the court is disposed to pick and choose who of those so convicted it will reprimand, suspend, or disbar, and who it will permit to resign (see In re Lonergan, 23 Wn. (2d) 767, 162 P. (2d) 289 (1945)), this is once I would permit a resignation. (I hasten to add that our acceptance of a resignation in the Lonergan case was entirely justifiable if we are to exercise discretion in such matters.)
In the present matter, on Volney Evers’ plea of guilty to three counts of grand larceny, the trial judge in the criminal case deferred sentence for five years and.gave Mr. Evers an opportunity to work out a program of restitution. Many prominent citizens of Seattle, including members of the bar and a former member of this court, wrote letters expressing their confidence in him. A number of personal friends contributed substantial sums of money to aid him in making partial restitution immediately. The persons who had been the victims of the defalcations joined in the request for deferment, as did the prosecuting attorney.
The trial court, in announcing the deferment, commented upon the three reasons for sending men to prison: first, the protection of society; second, the punishment of the wrong-doer; third, the deterrent effect upon others. He concluded that society was in no danger of Mr. Evers’ again committing an offense, and .. .
“ . . . that undoubtedly Mr. Evers has suffered more pangs of conscience over this than any amount of corporal punishment would ever accomplish. A man sixty-one years of age, a business man, prominent in his community and church and civic affairs, enjoying the confidence of many of the outstanding citizens of the community, couldn’t help but suffer greatly. He has been punished.”
The trial judge also concluded that the unusual circumstances of the case, which explain but do not excuse the offenses committed, would minimize the deterrent effect upon others.
We, in disbarment proceedings, have usually emphasized the matter of the protection of society from those unworthy of trust and confidence. Mr. Evers has not been engaged in the active practice of law for many years. The trial court in the criminal case was convinced that society has nothing to fear from him as a man; and, while I am convinced that society needs no protection from him as a lawyer, such protection would be afforded by his resignation. - •
If I could see any good purpose to be served by the disbarment, I would join with the majority; but I see none. Society does not need the protection of a disbarment; Volney Evers does not need the punishment of a disbarment; and his appearance in our court was a greater deterrent to others than the disbarment we now impose.
I confess to having been deeply moved by Mr. Evers’ presentation in this court—here in very truth was “a humble and a contrite heart”; yet, withal, here was a man, at sixty-one, determined to come up through the wreckage of his life, to repay those who had suffered by his misconduct, and to justify the faith of the legion of friends who were standing by him in the hour of adversity.
Disbarment and its attendant publicity will be just one more stinging, cutting blow, making more difficult the Herculean task of restitution that Mr. Evers has undertaken. I think resignation should be permitted. This would set no precedent. In re Lonergan, supra.
Finley, J., concurs with Hill, J.