Q. CAN YOU TELL ME WHEN THE CONDUCT BEGAN THAT RESULTED IN
2 YOUR DISBARMENT AND CONVICTION OF CRIME?
3 A. THIS IS A GUESS, BUT I WOULD ESTIMATE SOME TIME IN 1991.
4 Q. SO, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HOW MANY YEARS AFTER THE
5 MACDONALD TRIAL?
6 A. ABOUT A DOZEN.
7 Q. AND ABOUT HOW MANY YEARS AFTER YOU LEFT THE U.S.
8 ATTORNEY'S OFFICE?
9 A. ABOUT TEN.
10 Q. AND WHAT WERE THE CRIMES THAT YOU WERE CONVICTED OF?
11 A. I WAS CONVICTED -- I PLED GUILTY TO ALL COUNTS, WITHOUT
12 ANY PLEA AGREEMENT, TO A 12 COUNT BILL OF INDICTMENT.
13 Q. AND THAT WAS IN STATE COURT, IS THAT RIGHT?
14 A. YES. YES. AND WADE SMITH AND RICK GAMMON WERE MY
15 FRIENDS AND LAWYERS. I PLEADED GUILTY TO -- AND I MAY LEAVE
16 ONE OUT -- BUT EMBEZZLEMENT, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, I SUSPECT
17 THERE'S A FRAUD CONVICTION IN THERE SOMEWHERE, AND FORGERY.
18 WHAT I HAD DONE, TO PUT IT IN LAYMAN'S TERMS, WAS TO
19 MISAPPROPRIATE OR TAKE OVER $234,000, AT LEAST $75,000 OF
20 WHICH WENT TO CLIENTS DIRECTLY, $56,000 FROM THE LAW FIRM'S
21 TRUST ACCOUNT, ANOTHER $26,000 WENT TO THE UNITED STATES
22 GOVERNMENT AS REIMBURSEMENT ON A CASE. THAT'S WHERE THE
23 FORGERY CAME IN BECAUSE I -- WE -- THE LAW FIRM WANTED ME TO
24 PUT A DOCUMENT IN THE FILE, PROMISSORY NOTE, FOR THE CLIENT.
25 HE WAS OUT OF TOWN AND SO I SIGNED HIS NAME TO THE NOTE AND
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1 PUT IT IN THE FILE. THAT WAS THE FORGERY.
2 THE OTHER MONEY THAT WAS TAKEN WENT INTO MY OWN
3 ACCOUNT AND OUT OF THAT ACCOUNT I WROTE CHECKS OVER A LONG
4 PERIOD OF TIME TO VARIOUS CLIENTS, WHICH I HAD GOTTEN BEHIND
5 ON OR MATTERS THEY THOUGHT THEY DESERVED.
6 I BASICALLY SHOT MY LEGAL CAREER IN THE HEAD AND IT
7 ENDED ABRUPTLY IN MID-JANUARY OF 1993, I THINK. ACTUALLY, IT
8 WAS THE 13TH OF JANUARY 1993, WHEN THE LOCAL BANK, BB&T, HAD
9 BEEN ALERTED THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE TRUST ACCOUNT.
10 THE LAW FIRM ITSELF IS THE ONE THAT, YOU KNOW, TURNED ALL THIS
11 INFORMATION IN TO THE STATE BAR.
12 I SAW WADE SMITH LATER THAT DAY. WE TALKED. AND
13 WITHIN TWO DAYS AFTER THAT, BY THE 15TH OF JANUARY, I HAD
14 RESIGNED FROM THE LAW FIRM AND HAD MY FIRST MEETING WITH DR.
15 JEAN SPAULDING, A PSYCHIATRIST IN DURHAM, WHO WAS AT DUKE, AT
16 THE ADVICE OF WADE SMITH, AND I WOULD SEE HER FOR TWO OR THREE
17 YEARS.
18 AND SO IN THE FALL OF 1993, OR MAYBE EARLY DECEMBER
19 OF 1993, I ENTERED -- I THINK IT WAS EARLY DECEMBER OR LATE
20 NOVEMBER, ENTERED A PLEA IN FRONT OF JUDGE HIGHT IN RALEIGH TO
21 ALL COUNTS AND THEN I WAS SENTENCED A WEEK LATER.
22 THE SENTENCE THAT I GOT WAS A THREE YEAR SENTENCE.
23 AND THIS WAS BEFORE STRUCTURED SENTENCING, I THINK, IN NORTH
24 CAROLINA AT THAT TIME. SO, IT MEANT, ESSENTIALLY, ABOUT A
25 MONTH FOR A YEAR AT THAT TIME. AND THE JUDGE RECOMMENDED THAT
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1 I BE ENTITLED TO WORK RELEASE.
2 I GOT WORK RELEASE AND I WORKED FOR THE PERSON WHO
3 GAVE ME MY FIRST JOB AS A LAWYER, SENATOR ROBERT MORGAN, IN
4 HIS RALEIGH -- DOWNTOWN RALEIGH LAW OFFICE.
5 I WAS HOUSED AT WAKE CORRECTIONAL, I THINK, WHICH
6 WAS A MINIMUM SECURITY FACILITY, UNTIL EARLY APRIL OF 1994. I
7 WAS RELEASED ON APRIL THE 6TH.
