Hearing Board Recommends Reprimand for Prosecutor's Misleading Statements to Blogger
A prosecutor accused of misleading a blogger about a prior ethics case should be reprimanded, according to a recommendation by an Illinois hearing board.
The hearing panel sustained just one charge of misconduct against Laura Morask. According to the panel’s Feb. 10 report and recommendation, Morask misled blogger and lawyer Jack Leyhane while she was a candidate for judicial office. The Legal Profession Blog has the news.
Morask acknowledged that she fired off an email to Leyhane after he posted a link to a negative rating of her candidacy, according to the hearing board report. She told the hearing board she acted in the heat of the moment. “She stated she acted impulsively and is mortified by her own stupidity,” the report says.
Morask told the blogger she had been cleared of prosecutorial misconduct allegations in an earlier matter after a full and complete complete hearing before the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. The earlier allegations concerned her comments during closing and rebuttal arguments while working as a prosecutor in Cook County.
In reality, Morask had appeared before an inquiry board of the ARDC, which opted against filing a formal complaint, the report says. The board did, however, send Morask a private letter admonishing her to conform her conduct to ethical requirements.
The panel said Morask’s statements constituted misleading representations, though there was no “purposeful effort to deceive.” The panel also found no misconduct based on allegations that Morask had made sarcastic comments in three trials. In one instance, she was accused of referring to a murder defendant as “Mother Teresa” and “June Cleaver.”
“In the cases before us,” the hearing panel said, “we simply do not believe respondent’s comments crossed the threshold of propriety.”
