Once-High-Flying Ohio Lawyer is Sentenced to 2 Years in Fed'l Drug Case
Despite his earlier tearful testimony, a former legal eagle in Cincinnati was sentenced today to two years in prison in a federal drug conspiracy case, following a hearing that lasted all day yesterday and continued this morning.
Once-revered trial lawyer Ken Lawson must also perform 1,000 hours of community service once he is released, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“The bottom line is, no one is above the law,” said U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith, citing the scope of the case. Lawson and his counsel had argued for probation, saying that he sought drugs to feed his own addiction rather than peddling them to others.
Lawson admittedly lied, cheated and stole from clients for years, the newspaper writes, as he spiraled downward into a prescription painkillers addiction that eventually, at its worst, had him spending as much as $1,000 and popping as many as 100 pills a day. In the process, his career, clients and family life were devastated.
His lawyer, David Greer, argued for probation, pointing to famous people who avoided prison time for their self-admitted drug addiction, and saying that Lawson has been punished by losing his good name and his home, reports WCPO.
But prosecutor Timothy Oakley asked the judge to give Lawson at least two years, saying that he is the perpetrator rather than a victim, the ABC affiliate writes on its website.
“Ken Lawson’s respect for law was non-existent, ” Oakley told the court during the sentencing hearing. “Will a prison term act deter others? I hope so.”
Before his Ohio law license was suspended last year (an earlier Inquirer article says it was suspended in 2007), Lawson was known for his celebrity clients and high-profile civil rights cases.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “‘I Just Wanted to Die,’ Former Ohio Legal Eagle Testifies”
