Panel: Lawyer for Ex-Detroit Mayor Withheld Material Facts, Faces Discipline
The lawyer for disgraced ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is facing possible disbarment on professional misconduct charges relating to his handling of the text-messaging scandal that led to Kilpatrick’s ouster.
A three-member panel of the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board found that lawyer Samuel McCargo violated five rules of professional misconduct. The panel, which issued an 83-page report (PDF) in the case, will now consider the penalty that McCargo should face, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Those watching the disciplinary case say that the board’s actions this week don’t bode well for other lawyers involved in the Kilpatrick case.
“The other lawyers should be fearful,” says Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor who teaches a course on legal ethics.
The panel specifically found that McCargo withheld material facts from the judge overseeing a 2007 police whistle-blower trial. He’s also charged with failing to respond truthfully to the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission during its investigation of his conduct. However, McCargo was cleared of five other disciplinary charges.
At issue is McCargo’s handling of information he obtained from Mike Stefani, the lawyer for the police officers, that revealed Kilpatrick lied under oath during the 2007 trial.
The discipline cases surround a secret $8.4 million settlement struck after the revelation of the text messages. The settlement was aimed, in part, to keep the romantic text messages between Kilpatrick and his chief of staff from being made public, the Detroit News recounts.
But the messages became public anyway when Stefani reportedly leaked them to the local press. The revelation forced Kilpatrick to resign and serve 99 days in jail for perjury.
“While McCargo was dealt an unfortunate set of cards, including a less-than-forthright client, he played them poorly,” the panel said in its decision. “We do not doubt that McCargo was acting in what he honestly believed was an appropriate and ethical course of action from the time Stefani handed him the draft” of a legal brief containing excerpts of text messages Stefani had obtained.
The panel noted that McCargo would have been better off had he sought advice from colleagues or ethics professionals before proceeding.
Last updated at 10:42 a.m. to add the 83-page report.
