News

WARREN TO SURRENDER LAW LICENSE AFTER PLEA

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, March 5, 2009 10:18 AM CST

Pine Bluff attorney Donald Warren will give up his law license after pleading guilty to a criminal charge stemming from actions he took while acting as a special circuit judge last year.

“Let’s get the record clear, the prosecution did not seek my law license,” Warren said Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to abuse of office, a Class B misdemeanor. “I offered my law license and I don’t want the prosecutors to be accused of that which they didn’t do.

“Reputations are like fine china,” he said. “They’re easily broken and never well mended and in criminal defense, if your client has a reason to second guess you, then you can’t be effective.”

Flanked by attorneys Jesse Kearney and Mac Norton, Warren entered the plea before retired Pulaski County Judge John Plegge, who was assigned the case after all the judges in Jefferson County withdrew, citing the appearance of a conflict of interest.

“Are you pleading guilty to the charge because you are guilty?” Plegge asked Warren during a hearing that lasted about 10 minutes.

“Yes,” Warren replied.

The plea agreement was signed by Warren, Kearney and Deputy Prosecutor Maxie Kizer, who represented the state during the plea and sentencing.

Special provisions of the plea agreement called for Warren to begin the process of surrendering his law license to the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct. During that process, he will not accept any law related employment (civil or criminal) and will not accept any legal fees from clients on pending matters, nor will he handle any clients’ funds and/or settlements. That agreement was signed Monday.

Warren was also fined $500, plus $150 court costs, with the total to be paid within 45 days.

“Once it was clear that the law had been violated and what the appropriate charges should be, the ultimate issue was his right to practice law,” Prosecuting Attorney Steve Dalrymple said about the agreement which called for Warren to surrender his law license. “The circumstances surrounding this matter were sad, but the disposition of the case was appropriate.”

Two other charges that had been filed against Warren, second-degree forgery, a Class C felony, and criminal attempt theft of property under $500, a Class B misdemeanor, were dropped by prosecutors as a part of the agreement.

Dalrymple said the State Police were asked to investigate Warren after his office received information about Warren’s actions as a special judge in circuit court in July.

The state said that Warren, after being sworn in as a judge, signed a court order authorizing the release of a mowing deck to him without proper authorization. After signing the order, Warren filed it with the circuit clerk’s office and had it served on Alan Brazeale of Money Corner Pawn Shop, who had the mowing deck at the time, officials said.

After the court hearing, Warren said the mowing deck belonged to him and had been stolen from property he owned on Brinkley Road, but he did not file a report that it had been stolen.

“This is a little hobby farm,” Warren said. “The stuff out there, when you insure your personal property, of course it’s insured anywhere in the world but when it’s personal property not associated with your primary residence, then they kind of jack up the premium so it was never listed as my personal property. I didn’t insure it and I did not report it stolen because the chances of recovery were slim.”

He said after finding the mowing deck at the pawn shop, he contacted the sheriff’s department and while he did not make a formal report, a deputy told Brazeale not to remove the deck from his property.

“My actions were truly my own and I’m fully responsible for the act,” Warren said. “I need to thank my wife, my family and friends, and my clients for standing by me through this. They’re as loyal as Labradors, just there. I also want to apologize to them for putting them through this, and having to endure the humiliation and shame for my actions.

“I’m not angry at the prosecutors,” he said. “This is the route they chose to take. So be it. I think a new standard has been set for the prosecution of criminal cases that are members of the bar and I would hope this is not selective prosecution. We will just have to wait and see.”

A founding partner of the Warren Law Firm, Warren was also a candidate for the Arkansas House of Representatives last year.

Asked Wednesday about his future, Warren, who had previously worked as a teacher at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Philander Smith College and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law, said he “planned to take a break for a while.”

“The anxiety building up to this point was, I thought I couldn’t bear it, but like I said, thanks to the prosecutor, now I know that if a test like this comes, I can handle it,” he said.

Warren said he will still try to resolve the cases he has pending “because my law license is still intact, and any docket matters that I can resolve prior to whatever date they come up with, I will settle. I have a pretty substantial case load and getting my clients to positions where they’re not prejudiced is going to be a task, in and of itself.”

In February, the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission filed a formal complaint against Warren, who in addition to serving as a special circuit judge, was a part-time Altheimer City court judge.

Although that complaint was related to the criminal charges against Warren that were settled Wednesday, the commission could bar Warren from further service as a judge if he were to regain his law license. A hearing on that complaint has not been set.

Dalrymple said because the surrender of the license will be handled by the Supreme Court’s Office of Professional Conduct, they would control any further actions that might come up, such as Warren asking to have that license reinstated at some later date.

Print this story   |   Email this story