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Enhanced
Disbarment Recommended Alana Roberts and Billy
Shields "It's a privilege to practice law in the state of Florida, it is not a right," Bar counsel Sheila Tuma told Tunis. "If you look at case law in the state of Florida, enhanced disbarrment is appropriate." A typical disbarment generally allows an attorney to reapply for admission to the Bar after five years. Tuma explained the decision to recommend an enhanced disbarment, saying that Thompson demonstrated continued misconduct, a pattern of misconduct and persistently failed to admit any wrongdoing. This latest chapter in Thompson's fight with the Florida Bar was brief and contentious -- Thompson was not in the courtroom to hear Tuma's recommendations. Thompson contends he is the target of a wide-reaching conspiracy to get him disbarred. Throughout the battle, he insists, the Bar has sought to silence him in violation of his First Amendment rights. As the Wednesday hearing began, Thompson rose to object to the proceedings in a testy exchange with the judge, whom he has attempted to get removed from his case. Tunis stopped him and refused to let him speak. "What I do not want is for you to be making a speech at the beginning of what is essentially a disciplinary hearing where I'm supposed to hear aggravating and mitigating factors," Tunis said. "If you have something in writing I would gladly accept it." She invited him to submit his objections in writing. In response, Thompson said he had a right to state for the record his objection to the hearing. He then distributed his written objections to lawyers, to a court reporter and to a newspaper reporter and departed the courtroom. He called the proceedings against him a "star chamber" and "kangaroo court." "I have put up with your serial breaches of Florida laws, of the Canons of Judicial Conduct and of the Constitution and of common decency for a year and a half now," he wrote. "When this is done, and when you recommend my disbarrment and when the Supreme Court does disbar me ... the tables will be turned. It will then be my time at bat and a jury of normal people in this county will undo all that you have done." "I wish you a very good day because I'm done here," Thompson told the judge before leaving. Tuma, the Bar counsel, proceeded to offer the Bar's recommendations to the court. "I can't object to the legitimacy of the proceedings and then participate in them," Thompson said in an interview outside the courtroom. Thompson said he would challenge any rulings by Tunis in state or federal court. Tunis recommended in May that Thompson be found guilty of 27 violations of Florida Bar rules. In a five-page report, Tunis concluded that Thompson made false statements to tribunals, disparaged and humiliated litigants and other lawyers, improperly practiced law outside the state of Florida and made inaccurate statements about the qualifications or integrity of a judge. The report lacked details about the violations and an explanation of how the judge reached her findings. Bar counsel Tuma was only somewhat more specific at Wednesday's hearing. Tunis has until Sept. 3 to submit a more in-depth report with her recommendations to the Florida Supreme Court, which would then decide Thompson's fate. Tunis reviewed complaints based on Thompson's appearance in an Alabama case and allegations filed with the Bar by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ronald Friedman; Circuit Judge James Moore of Fayette County, Ala.; and attorneys from the law firms of Tew Cardenas and Blank Rome. The Bar complaints say Thompson sent letters, e-mails, faxes, news releases and court filings peppered with misstatements and falsehoods in violation of the Bar rules of professional conduct. At the hearing Wednesday, Tuma also submitted an affidavit from Lawrence Kellogg, a partner with Tew Cardenas, that she said indicated Thompson has sent that firm more than 100 e-mails criticizing Kellogg and partner Alberto Cardenas since December. The affidavit was not made available immediately to the public. Tuma said Thompson's behavior isn't likely to stop unless he is disbarred. "Respondent's conduct or misconduct in this case and throughout these proceedings clearly prove he's unable to conduct himself in a manner consistent with the rules of the Florida Bar," Tuma said. After Tunis issued her report in May, Thompson filed a motion with the Supreme Court to strike her recommendations as vague and for their lack of event-specific findings. He also alleged Tunis failed to follow the Bar's protocol in filing her report. The court has not acted on the issue. Thompson has tried unsuccessfully to get Tunis removed from his case. He has challenged her authority to oversee his case based on differences in the signatures on her 2000 loyalty oath. An investigation by the state attorney's office found that her signature was forged, but the judge has since signed a new loyalty oath. Thompson contends the forgery invalidates all her rulings, but the court contends that Tunis' authority flowed from her oath of office not her loyalty oath. The state attorney's office did not address the issue. Thompson also filed a federal lawsuit against the Bar, arguing it has overstepped its bounds regarding its discipline of him. In March, the Supreme Court issued an order preventing him from filing documents with the high court without the signature of another Florida Bar member. The court's clerk has since refused to accept documents filed by him in the case. Thompson countered the high court's decision violates his Sixth Amendment right to choose his own legal representation. Lawyer,
Sparring With Judges and Bar By Alana Roberts MIAMI - Embattled Coral Gables, Fla., attorney Jack Thompson was sanctioned Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court, which won't accept any more filings from him without the signature of another Florida Bar member. Thompson, who is fighting potentially career-ending Bar disciplinary charges, could face contempt of court proceedings or other sanctions if he disobeys the order, the court warned. The crusader against pornography and violent video games filed numerous documents with the court while actively fighting the Bar complaint."We do not limit such counsel's ability to challenge the referee's findings and recommendations on review," the court said in its order. "What we cannot tolerate, however, is Thompson's continued inability to maintain a minimum standard of decorum and respect for the judicial system to which all litigants, and especially attorneys, must adhere." Thompson denied his filings have interfered with other people's legal access. He said he'll refrain from filing anything further with the Florida Supreme Court but added he may file a motion for rehearing, which the order allows. "I obey court orders," Thompson said. "I'm going to beat them in the federal court and not in their kangaroo court." He later filed a motion seeking oral arguments on the high court's order. Thompson filed a federal suit March 4, accusing the Florida Bar of illegally promoting a political agenda favoring gay rights and the distribution of obscene and sexually explicit materials. The Supreme Court warned Thompson twice last year to stop filing frivolous motions with the court in his disciplinary case and issued a show cause order Feb. 19 to explain why he shouldn't be sanctioned. Thompson has said he has the right to file whatever he wants. In the February order the court described one of Thompson's filings in detail. He dubbed it a "children's picture book for adults," interspersing images with text in his motion due to "the court's inability to comprehend" his arguments. Images included "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, a baby, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, a house of cards," the order said. Since then, Thompson filed 28 documents with the court. The court dismissed Thompson's filings as "rambling, argumentative and contemptuous" and concluded his "frivolous and abusive filings must immediately come to an end." The Florida Bar filed two complaints against Thompson early last year based on the allegations of several judges and other lawyers who say he sent letters, e-mails, faxes, news releases and court filings peppered with misstatements and falsehoods about them in violation of the Florida Bar's rules of professional conduct. One referred to his actions as "emotional stalking." Thompson alleges the Bar is conspiring with others to have him permanently disbarred and that he has a First Amendment right to criticize judges and lawyers. Thompson wrote U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey after the show cause order was issued, saying it was a criminal and retaliatory act imposed while he was seeking relief from the court. The state's high court pointed to previous decisions in Florida and by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing sanctions against "abusive litigants." The Florida justices also noted Thompson's access to the court has been limited but not denied. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dava Tunis heard the disciplinary proceeding against Thompson and is scheduled to submit a report to the high court by April 21.
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A Feast
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