Iowa Supreme Court Bd. of Professional Ethics and Conduct v. Palmer, 97-215
| Decision Date | 21 May 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-215,97-215 |
| Citation | 563 N.W.2d 634 |
| Parties | . Timothy Richard PALMER, Respondent. Supreme Court of Iowa |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Norman G. Bastemeyer and Charles L. Harrington, Des Moines, for complainant.
Timothy R. Palmer, Springfield, IL, pro se.
Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and LARSON, CARTER, SNELL, and TERNUS, JJ.
This matter is before us for review of a report of the grievance commission of this court concerning a disciplinary complaint against a lawyer, respondent Timothy Richard Palmer. We review these matters pursuant to Court Rule 118.10 and consider anew both the facts and the appropriate discipline to be imposed. Completion of this task in the present case leads to the conclusion that respondent's license to practice law should be revoked.
The complainant board alleged that respondent, in August and September of 1994, stole two credit cards from Michelle Hutchinson and used them without her authorization to obtain funds that he used for his own purposes. This conduct resulted in respondent's indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa on two counts of fraudulent use of an unauthorized access device to obtain monies from a federally insured bank. These alleged crimes, codified in 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(2) were both felonies. The complaint in this disciplinary proceeding alleges that, pursuant to a plea agreement with the United States attorney, respondent entered a plea of guilty to one of these felonies on condition that the other charge be dismissed. He was thus adjudged guilty of one felony offense under 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(2).
Respondent was served with the complaint along with detailed requests for admissions regarding his role in the two alleged crimes. He has not answered the complaint or the requests for admissions. His failure to respond to the latter renders the requests admitted for purposes of these proceedings. A hearing on the complaint was scheduled before the grievance commission. Respondent, who was not imprisoned for his felony conviction, was notified of the time and place of that hearing and failed to appear.
Respondent's license to practice law has been temporarily suspended by this court since October 1995. The grievance commission has recommended that his license remain suspended without possibility of reinstatement for an additional five years. The commission's recommendation of a lengthy suspension rather than revocation was based on the circumstance that respondent's misdeeds did not take place in connection with his law practice.
Conviction of a felony is grounds for revocation or suspension of a lawyer's license to practice law. Iowa Code § 602.10122(1) (1993). In...
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...income tax evasion after converting over $140,000 in legal fees after a period of many years); Iowa Supreme Ct. Bd. of Prof'l Ethics & Conduct v. Palmer, 563 N.W.2d 634, 634–35 (Iowa 1997) (revoking the license of an attorney who pled guilty to a felony after stealing two credit cards and u......
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...request for admissions based on its finding that Lyzenga had failed to respond to the request. See Iowa Supreme Ct. Bd. of Prof'l Ethics & Conduct v. Palmer, 563 N.W.2d 634, 635 (Iowa 1997). The commission further found that, in her letter to the board, Lyzenga had not acknowledged personal......