Eaton, In re
| Decision Date | 18 September 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 34436,34436 |
| Citation | 14 Ill.2d 338,152 N.E.2d 850 |
| Parties | In re T. Renfroe EATON, Attorney, Respondent. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Charles Leviton, Chicago, amicus curiae.
T. Renfroe Eaton, Chicago, pro se.
The Committee on Grievances of the Chicago Bar Association, as commissioners of this court, has recommended the disbarment of T. Renfroe Eaton, an attorney. The report and recommendation followed a hearing on the complaint of the Committee on Inquiry charging the respondent had been indicted and convicted of using the mails to defraud and obtaining money by false representations. Respondent asserts that the record does not support the findings and recommendation and has brought same here for review.
The complaint of the committee is based upon respondent's indictment in the district court of the United States for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division, in four counts charging him with using the mails to defraud in violation of section 1341, Title 18 U.S.C., and his subsequent conviction upon a plea of nolo contendere.
Respondent filed a motion with the commissioners to strike the complaint primarily upon the ground that a judgment on a plea of nolo contendere does not amount to a judgment of conviction and cannot be treated as an admission in any other proceeding. The motion further alleged that such a judgment would not support the assertion in the complaint that, by reason of the conviction, respondent had been guilty of misconduct involving moral turpitude which tends to bring the legal profession into disrepute. The motion was supported by an affidavit wherein it was related that respondent was innocent and that he tendered the plea of nolo contendere because of prejudice against him due to his activities in behalf of the colored race. The motion was overruled and respondent filed his answer. The matter was heard upon the record of the indictment and conviction with no other evidence adduced by the committee. Extensive testimony was produced by respondent to support his contention that the plea was made through duress and fear and that he was discriminated against. Thereafter the commissioners entered an order reopening the proofs to permit evidence in refutation of respondent's evidence which he contended showed he was impelled to enter the plea.
Respondent contends that a certified copy of the indictment and judgment entered on a plea of nolo contendere is inadmissible. He further argues that even if admitted in evidence, the record on such a plea does not constitute prima facie evidence of the truth of the charges.
It is the established rule in this State that conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude is conclusive evidence of an attorney's guilt and ground for disbarment. In re Needham, 364 Ill. 65, 4 N.E.2d 19; In re Carr, 377 Ill. 140, 36 N.E.2d 243. We have further said that moral turpitude is involved where an attorney is convicted of a crime in which fraud is an element. In re Needham, 364 Ill. 65, 4 N.E.2d 19; In re Teitelbaum, 13 Ill.2d 586, 150 N.E.2d 873.
The crime here, as in the Needham case, was the use of the mails to defraud. In that case the record of the conviction was the only evidence adduced and we held that the conviction was conclusive. We need, therefore, to consider the difference in effect, if any, between a conviction after a plea of not guilty and a conviction on a plea of nolo contendere.
Since a plea of nolo contendere is not recognized in Illinois practice (People v. Miller, 264 Ill. 148, 106 N.E. 191), we have seldom been called on to consider its effect in disciplinary proceedings.
In re Smith, 365 Ill. 11, 5 N.E.2d 227, arose out of a conviction in the United States district court for overcharges of fees for services rendered mothers of war veterans. While the respondent in that case denied his guilt, he was prevailed upon to enter a plea of nolo contendere. The court refused to disbar or suspend the respondent, but did censure him. There was some discussion about a plea of nolo contendere but the decision was based purely upon lack of proof of intentional wrongdoing. No mention was made in the Smith case of the conclusiveness of the conviction as held in the Needham case filed six months previously, but that is understandable since moral turpitude does not appear to have been involved in the offense with which Smith had been charged. We do not regard the Smith case as sustaining respondent's position.
The case of In re Teitelbaum, 13 Ill.2d 586, 150 N.E.2d 873, filed subsequent to respondent's brief, was a disciplinary proceeding arising out of an attorney's convictions under section 145(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 145(b) following a plea of not guilty and a trial in one case and a conviction on a plea of nolo contendere in another. While the particular problem was not there discussed at length, we treated the convictions as having an indentical effect.
Turning to the views of other jurisdictions, we find that it is generally recognized that a plea of nolo contendere cannot be used as an admission in any civil suit for the same act nor in a later criminal proceeding. 152 A.L.R. 280, 281. On the other hand the effect and admissibility of a conviction under such a plea is the subject of much discussion and widely divergent points of view. Some jurisdictions, such as Massachusetts, flatly prohibit proof of conviction on the plea (see White v. Creamer, 175 Mass. 567, 56 N.E. 832), while others hold that the fact of conviction may be shown with the same consequences as if the conviction were after a plea of guilty or not guilty. (See Neibling v. Terry, 352 Mo. 396, 177 S.W.2d 502, 152 A.L.R. 249; Commonwealth ex rel. District Attorney v. Jackson, 248 Pa. 530, 94 A. 233; Louisiana State Bar Association v. Connolly, 201 La. 342, 9 So.2d 582.) It is recognized that some of the decisions in the latter jurisdictions are based on statutes which provide for revocation of licenses, increased penalties for multi-offenders and the like, following a conviction (such as Texas), and others partly upon a statute and partly by court rule (notably Missouri), but we see no difference whether the penalties imposed for a conviction are provided by statute, rule, or court decision. If the convictions are admissible under statutes authorizing revocation for example (and they are in most jurisdictions), then they should be admissible in jurisdictions where disbarment is the penalty for conviction of crimes which involve moral turpitude.
As above noted it has been established by decision in this State that conviction of a crime...
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In re Smith
...154 S.E.2d 860] supra; In re West, [155 W.Va. 648, 186 S.E.2d 776] supra; In re Teitelbaum, 13 Ill.2d 586, 150 N.E.2d 873; In re Eaton, 14 Ill.2d 338, 152 N.E.2d 850. The crime for which the respondent was convicted clearly involves an element of fraud, and is so stated in the indictment up......
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...of a crime involving moral turpitude conclusive evidence of an attorney's guilt and a ground for disbarment. (In re Eaton (1958), 14 Ill.2d 338, 152 N.E.2d 850; In re Teitelbaum (1958), 13 Ill.2d 586, 150 N.E.2d 873; In re Needham (1936), 364 Ill. 65, 4 N.E.2d 19.) Violation of the Internal......