The California Supreme Court this week announced that former
Hollister public defender Patrick E. Marshall has been
disbarred.
The California Supreme Court this week announced that former Hollister public defender Patrick E. Marshall has been disbarred.
Marshall, found to have a sexual relationship with a client in 1995 and to have acted inappropriately with another in 2001, was charged with the ethical improprieties in 2004 by the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel.
From there, though, over objections of the Chief Trial Counsel’s Office, Marshall was admitted to the State Bar’s Alternative Discipline Program, which allows for substance abuse or mental health treatment before a case is decided. Marshall entered into an agreement to assist in his recovery process from depression disorder, sexual disorder, narcissistic personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, according to the Supreme Court announcement.
When he completed the program in 2007, the State Bar Court Hearing Department imposed a one-year stayed suspension and two years’ probation for his misconduct. State Bar prosecutors appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. In 2009, the high court ordered the State Bar Court to conduct further hearings.
With the decision announced Thursday, his disbarment is effective Jan. 1.
Following the hearings, State Bar Court Judge Lucy Armendariz agreed that a stayed suspension was too lenient for Marshall and recommended disbarment, according to the court.
“Despite respondent’s successful completion of the ADP and LAP [Lawyer Assistance Program] and years of therapy,” Armendariz wrote in her disbarment recommendation, Marshall “has not fully grasped the egregiousness of his offenses and the extreme harm he had caused the administration of justice and integrity of the legal profession.”
The judge noted that Marshall argued that a mitigating factor should be that his misconduct accounted for no more than “an hour’s total duration,” according to the announcement.
“Violation of one’s professional and ethical duties is not measured by the length of time,” Armendariz wrote.
According to the State Bar, Marshall in 1995 on at least two occasions at the San Benito County Jail had oral sex performed on him by a client. In 2001, the relations included hugging and patting buttocks, according to the bar. He resigned as a public defender following the 2001 ordeal. Marshall, meanwhile, has argued that the relations were consensual.
One of the main reasons the State Bar had recommended probation in 2007 was because Marshall had no record of prior discipline for 20 years, while he was admitted to the bar in 1975.
Marshall after the 2007 ruling noted how he had a “tough time a few years ago.”
