State ex rel. Okla. Bar Ass'n v. Reedy

538 P.3d 153

STATE of Oklahoma EX REL. OKLAHOMA BAR ASSOCIATION, Complainant,

v.James Darrell REEDY, Respondent.

SCBD No. 7268

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

Filed October 17, 2023

Stephen L. Sullins, Assistant General Counsel, Oklahoma Bar Association, For Complainant.

Travis A. Pickens, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, For Respondent.

KAUGER, J.:

¶1 The Oklahoma Bar Association (OBA) notified the Court that the State of Alabama had convicted the respondent, James Darrell Reedy (respondent) of a felony as a result of a drunk driving accident which killed a bicyclist. Rule 7.1 of the Oklahoma Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, 5 O.S. 2021 Ch. 1, App. 1-A, provides that a lawyer who has been convicted of a crime which demonstrates unfitness to practice law shall be subject to discipline.¹ After a disciplinary hearing the Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT) recommended that the respondent be suspended for two years and one day. The OBA agreed with the recommendation and upon de novo review, we hold that the respondent's license to practice law should be suspended for two years and one day, retroactively beginning on June 20, 2022. The respondent is assessed the costs of this proceeding in the sum of $2,883.68 for payment not later than ninety days after this opinion becomes final.

FACTS

¶2 The respondent is currently 68 years old. He became a member of the OBA on April 22, 1994. His official roster address is in Clinton, Oklahoma. He also became a member of the Alabama State Bar Association on April 28, 1995. Prior to being a lawyer, his background was in the oil and gas industry.

¶3 After law school, respondent worked in Alabama until he moved back to Oklahoma in 1997. The record is unclear as to exact dates, but at some point he also lived in Wichita Falls, Texas. In 2014, the respondent, with a small inheritance and money saved, stepped away from practicing law for two years to see if he might like retirement. During this time, while driving under the influence of alcohol, he caused the death of a bicyclist while visiting Alabama.

¶4 The accident occurred at night on February 8, 2016. There were conflicting accounts of what happened. According to the police, the respondent left the scene of the accident and was apprehended after the collision going the wrong direction up a hill. The respondent smelled of alcohol, had damage to his truck, and what appeared to be blood on the truck. The victim's back tire was crushed and his bike had reflectors on it.

¶5 According to the respondent, he thought he might have hit a deer because he had hit one earlier in Texas while en route to Alabama. He stated that there was no place to immediately turn around so he drove until he could turn around and go back to see what he hit. By the time he returned to the scene of the accident, the police were already on the scene. He also said the victim was wearing dark clothing and he did not see any lighting or reflectors on the bicycle.

¶6 The police arrested the respondent after he failed a field sobriety test. He subsequently spent eight days in jail trying to contact someone through the jail's faulty telephone system to post bail. Charges for leaving the scene of an accident were eventually dropped.

¶7 Concerned about how the accident would affect his ability to work, the respondent contacted the OBA Ethics Counsel soon after his arrest to seek advice about reporting the incident to either the OBA and/or future employers. A logged record of the respondent's OBA visit, dated March 31, 2016, provides:

Question regarding duty to report himself. He has been charged in Alabama with multiple crimes, (DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, negligent homicide). He wants to self-report because it is weighing so heavily upon him. He has been to treatment, is continuing with follow-up treatment and obtained counsel to represent him in the criminal case in Alabama.

[Response] There is no duty to self-report. Recommended that he obtain counsel here in Oklahoma to help him consider how best to present any convictions to the OBA if his counsel advises him to do so.

The respondent explains that he understood the conversation to mean that he did not need to self-report anything about the accident to either the OBA or potential employers.

¶8 In April of 2017, the Grand Jury of Baldwin County, Alabama, indicted the respondent for recklessly causing the death of another person while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. In February or March of 2018, the respondent thought he had resigned from the Alabama Bar, but later learned that he had merely been placed on voluntary inactive status. On March 21, 2018, the respondent entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter, which under Alabama law is a felony.

¶9 Alabama sentenced the respondent, resulting in a thirty-six months suspension and probation.² The respondent entered into a fifty-six day alcohol treatment program, and then lived in a sober living house in Wichita Falls, Texas, for eighteen months. He has not drunk alcohol or used any illicit drugs since the 2016 accident.

¶10 Feeling bad about the accident, the respondent placed himself on a "self-imposed" suspension from any further law practice from 2016 until 2020, when he began to run out of money. He never reported the conviction to the Alabama State Bar or the OBA. In February of 2020, The respondent went to work for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS). He did not inform OIDS of his conviction or that he was on probation.

¶11 In April of 2022, someone reported the past felony conviction to the OBA which resulted in the opening of an investigation by the OBA. After OIDS learned of the felony conviction, they gave him the opportunity to resign, which he did on April 28, 2022.

¶12 Soon thereafter, the respondent again contacted the OBA to further inquire about self-reporting. The ethics counsel responded as follows:

Mr. Reedy,

I write in response to your recent inquiry. There is no duty to self-report in the ORPC. There is a duty to report discipline for lawyer misconduct in another jurisdiction under RGDP 7.7(a). In the situation that you described to me there was no imposition of discipline for lawyer misconduct and therefore no duty to self-report. I concur with the advice that you have indicated that you received previously from Ethics Counsel. I am presently looking for the memoranda from that prior inquiry. Because some prior records are not kept digitally, it may take some time to locate them. Do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

On June 3, 2022, the OBA filed a Notice of Plea of Guilty and Sentence with this Court, which certified copies of the conviction attached. After inquiries from the OBA, the General Counsel of the Alabama State Bar filed a Petition with the Alabama Supreme Court on June 10, 2022, seeking to Suspend or Disbar Reedy due to his Alabama Felony Conviction. On June 20, 2022, this Court entered an Order of Immediate Interim Suspension, but gave the respondent the opportunity to show why the suspension should be set aside.

¶13 The respondent asked us to set aside the interim suspension because the accident happened almost six and a half years ago, and it did not demonstrate any unfitness to practice law. The OBA requested that suspension remain in place until final discipline was imposed. On October 3, 2022, we issued an order keeping the suspension in place, and remanding the cause to the PRT for a hearing for the imposition of final discipline. Also on October 3, 2022, the Alabama Supreme Court struck the respondent from the Roll of Attorneys. The respondent did not challenge the Alabama disbarment because he does not have the resources to do so, and has no plans to return to Alabama.

¶14 The PRT held a final discipline hearing on March 9, 2023. Among the stipulations between the OBA and the respondent was the stipulation that: "Mr. Reedy had no obligation to report the conviction in Alabama to the Oklahoma Bar Association ." (Emphasis added). The PRT recommended that the respondent be suspended for two years and one day, ordered to pay costs of the proceeding and join Lawyers Helping Lawyers. The OBA agrees with the PRT recommendation. After the briefing cycle was complete, the cause was assigned on June 6, 2023, for review by this Court.

A. Stipulations and Duty to Report Convictions.

¶15 In this cause, both the OBA and the respondent stipulated that he was not under any duty to self-report his convictions to the OBA. Because of the stipulation, the respondent's two inquiries regarding self-reporting, the OBA's two responses, and the lack of express language in Rule 7, the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, 5 O.S. 2021 Ch. 1, app. 1-A regarding self-reporting, we take this opportunity to clarify, and to provide guidance to the bench and bar regarding both stipulations and self-reporting.

¶16 Stipulations in bar matters generally occur as either stipulations to specific facts or stipulations to specific attorney misconduct (eg. violations of the Rules). Regardless of which stipulation may occur, this Court utilizes a complete record which includes the PRT report, the evidence submitted to the PRT, stipulations, pleadings, and the merits of the disciplinary charges. We do this because we seek to impose equal or uniform discipline, and to avoid the use of disparate treatment given to those being disciplined.³ When the parties stipulate, the stipulations do not bind the Court because our duty is to review all of the evidence de novo to decide if misconduct allegations are established by clear and convincing evidence.⁴

¶17 Criminal convictions are not required for attorney discipline,⁵ but the Oklahoma Rules of Disciplinary Proceedings, 5 O.S. 2021 Rules 7.1-7.10, Ch. 1, app. 1-A, relate to the discipline of a convicted lawyer. Rule 7.1, provides:

A lawyer who has been convicted or has tendered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere pursuant to a deferred sentence plea agreement in any

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