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Monday, August 23, 2010

Ind. Courts - "An attorney for the Indiana Supreme Court's disciplinary commission on Friday formally recommended that Delaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney's law license be suspended for six months."

Updating a long list of earlier ILB entries on Delaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney, this entry's heading was the lede in Douglas Walker's August 21st story in the Muncie Star-Press. The story continues:

Lawyer Chuck Kidd's recommendation was issued to Boone Circuit Court Judge Steven David, appointed by the Supreme Court to evaluate allegations that McKinney's dual roles as a prosecutor and a private attorney, in civil forfeiture cases for the Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force, violated rules of professional conduct for attorneys.

The commission's probe stemmed from a 2008 complaint filed against the prosecutor by Mayor Sharon McShurley.

McKinney's lawyer, Kevin McGoff, issued his own recommendation to the judge on Friday, maintaining his client was not deserving of any punishment.

Judge David -- one of three finalists to fill an upcoming vacancy on the state Supreme Court -- will issue his own recommendation, on or about Sept. 7, on what sanctions, if any, he believes McKinney deserves.

The final decision rests with the Supreme Court, which last year rejected a proposed resolution of the case that would have seen McKinney's law license suspended for 90 days.

The long story continues with some of the arguments made before Judge David, including:
[Kevin] McGoff argued that it would be unfair to punish McKinney a decade after the potential conflict of a deputy prosecutor handling civil forfeiture cases had been brought to the disciplinary commission's attention.

McGoff said the commission should find the complaint filed against his client by Mayor McShurley "unfounded and without merit."

"Sanctioning McKinney would violate the separation of powers doctrine of the United States and Indiana constitutions, which prohibit the judicial branch from invading the discretion of a member of the executive branch," McGoff argued.

The Indianapolis attorney concluded that the disciplinary commission "has failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence" that McKinney violated ethics rules.

Kidd recommended that McKinney's law license be automatically reinstated after a six-month suspension.

McKinney said last spring that he had been led to believe the harshest penalty he could receive as a result of the misconduct allegations would be a six-month suspension with automatic reinstatement.

A spokesman for the Supreme Court at that time denied any such assurances had been made.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 23, 2010 06:25 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts