posted on September 10, 2002 12:29:40 PM new
At what point did this woman throw all of her common sense & education out the door.?
Attorney accused of sex with defendant
September 9, 2002 Posted: 8:39 PM EDT (0039 GMT)
SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Defense attorney Theresa Olson, a fiery advocate who sometimes cries openly when she loses a case, was visiting a murder-defendant client behind bars when jail guards looking through a window reported seeing them having sex.
Olson was thrown off the case by the judge.
The episode could delay an already long-postponed murder trial. It has also thrown a spotlight on conduct that only recently was officially recognized by the American Bar Association as an ethical breach.
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The alleged affair has derailed Olson's otherwise distinguished career and frustrated those who want to see Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay stand trial in the 1994 clubbing deaths of Rafay's family. The trial was delayed for nearly six years while Burns and Rafay fought extradition from Canada.
"What an amazing, sad, pathetic case," said Lis Wiehl, a University of Washington law professor.
How long it takes Burns' new lawyers to get up to speed on the case will determine whether it is delayed beyond its April 28 trial date.
The state bar association is investigating the jail commander's report about the alleged dalliance in a jail interview room August 10, and Olson could face a range of punishments all the way up to disbarment.
Washington state has had an explicit rule against lawyer-client affairs for two years. The state Supreme Court added the rule in light of the case of Lowell Halverson, a former bar president whose license was suspended for six months for having affairs with clients in divorce cases.
In 2000, the ABA included in its recommended code of ethics for state courts a rule expressly prohibiting lawyers from striking up affairs with their clients. The rule took effect in February.
The ABA said it has no national statistics on how many lawyers have been disciplined for having sex with their clients.
Such trysts typically involve male lawyers and female clients who are going through a divorce -- not a 26-year-old, male triple-murder defendant and his married, 43-year-old counsel.
"You don't think about this and think, 'Here's this poor vulnerable guy who got sucked into this relationship," said Boston University Law School ethics professor Nancy Moore, who lobbied the ABA to adopt the rule. "But it still creates a conflict of interest that makes the lawyer less capable of exercising independent judgment."
Wiehl, the UW law professor, asked this, for example: What could happen to the client if the relationship turned sour?
Olson, a 15-year veteran of Seattle's public defender's office, is considered an effective if eccentric lawyer who wears ruffled petticoats and homemade clothes in court. Burns had been her sole client for nearly three years.
Burns walked away silently when asked about her during a break in a recent court hearing. Olson's boss, Bob Boruchowitz, declined to say whether she'd be fired.
"She's not giving interviews," her attorney, Todd Maybrown, said Friday. "At this point, she's on vacation from the office, and she will be for a couple more weeks."
Rafay's mother, father and sister were found beaten to death with a baseball bat in their home eight years ago. Prosecutors said Burns did it so he and Rafay could collect insurance money and profit from the sale of the house.
Burns and Rafay were arrested in British Columbia after investigators who bugged their house said they heard them acknowledge committing the crimes. Canada would not send them back to Seattle, however, because prosecutors wanted the death penalty. Prosecutors finally relented, and Burns and Rafay were extradited in 2001.
Tim Johnson, deputy police chief in Bellevue, where the family was killed, said Olson's alleged misconduct will not hurt the case in the long run.
"It's frustrating, sure," he said. "But there's been delays all along. The justice system is a good system."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
posted on September 10, 2002 03:02:08 PM new
Gender does not matter here - it is a matter of power. If your lawyer comes on to you and you need them to defend you what will you do? Puts you in a pretty vulnerable position.
posted on September 10, 2002 03:37:37 PM new
Gravid,LOL,I read the attorney was in a
vulnerable position.
She knew the prison officals would be watching.
