Friday, December 23, 2005
The only reason Edward F. Sturgeon, a former assistant Mahoning County prosecutor who admitted to sexual misconduct with clients, dodged the bullet on an allegation that surfaced in March 2003 is because lawyers who were aware of it failed to do what the code of professional conduct requires of them.
This apparent violation of the code demands a full-blown investigation by the Mahoning County Bar Association. Why? Because had the bar's grievance committee known about the allegation and launched an investigation, there is every reason to believe Sturgeon would have been dissuaded from continuing his illicit conduct.
"In general terms, any lawyer who has reason to believe that there has been a violation of the judicial code of professional responsibility by either a lawyer or a judge is obligated to inform the appropriate authority. That could be either a local certified grievance committee or disciplinary counsel." So says Atty. Ronald E. Slipski, one of the two members of the Mahoning County Bar Association's grievance committee who recently prosecuted Sturgeon for three professional misconduct charges.
Without a formal investigation into the failure of lawyers to alert the bar association of the then assistant county prosecutor's sexually abusive behavior, the answer to the question "Why?" will be open to speculation. And the last thing the legal community in Mahoning County needs, given the number of judges and lawyers who have been convicted of crimes, is the suggestion that this was nothing more than lawyers circling the wagons to protect one of their own.
Those who knew
While a Vindicator story this week lays out the facts with regard to who was ultimately responsible for informing the bar, we will refrain from pointing fingers. Instead, we will simply note that Youngstown Prosecutor Dionne Almasy, then city Law Director John A. McNally IV, and Sturgeon's lawyer knew in March 2003 that a female client had filed a police report in which she described a sex act in Sturgeon's office. County Prosecutor Paul Gains ultimately found out that an employee of his was the subject of a police report.
If Atty. Slipski is correct in his reading of the judicial code of professional responsibility, any one of the individuals mentioned had the obligation to alert the bar association to the complaint filed by the client. That no one did is cause for concern.
This goes beyond pointing the finger of blame. It is about the culture of the legal profession in Mahoning County that can be described thus: a lawyer should not speak ill of a fellow lawyer.
We have long decried the bar association's refusal to take the lead in criticizing those judges and lawyers who chose to cross over to the dark side, and its refusal to let it be known that such behavior is unacceptable and undermines the public's faith in the legal profession. Sturgeon's misbehavior reflects poorly on the bar association.
That is why an aggressive investigation is necessary.