As Cheryl Baswell-Guthrie is scheduled for her first court appearance Wednesday, the Huntsville attorney and former congressional candidate has another issue beyond the first-degree theft charge she's facing.The Alabama State Bar has indefinitely suspended Baswell-Guthrie's law license. The suspension went into effect Sept. 16, according to Tony McLain, general counsel for the state bar.
Details, however, are still sketchy on the case. Baswell-Guthrie has been charged with first-degree theft for stealing $50,000 from a victim from the Shoals area. But the Alabama Securities Commission, which sought the warrant for her arrest, declined Friday to shed more light on the case beyond the affidavit filed by the victim.
McLain said the bar sought an "interim suspension" for Baswell-Guthrie, which he said was a "more expedited method" of suspended a law license.
"In situations where it appears a lawyer may be creating a risk of harm to the public or their client, in general anything that's tied to trust account, trust, money issues, that generally is a pretty big red flag for us to take some immediate action to pull that lawyer's license," McLain said.
"In conjunction with the suspension, we also get a restraining order that prohibits (Baswell-Guthrie) from maintaining a trust account. They have a right to have a due process hearing to dissolve the restraining order. She has not done that."
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Accused of Theft, Cheryl Baswell-Guthrie's Law License Suspended
3 comments:
Well, hi-speed discipline!
Things are looking up.
As it should be.
The problem is that unless it's a 'visible' or 'public person' the other thieves (Guardian Ad Litems , who are also attorneys, and attorneys --or officers of the Court) believe they have 'absolute immunity' and therefore, continue their business as usual. For example, Joel Brodsky, who extorted money out of his client in a Probate case, had multiple complaints filed against him with the ARDC. Under oath, Brodsky admitted he has a co-conspiritor with the ARDC and therefore was immune from any prosecution or loss of license. It's been one year since the complaints accompanied with affidavits and certified court transcripts were filed, and Brodsky is still practicing law. (Yes, Brodsky is one of the attorneys on the Drew Peterson case). With that said, even with his minor celebrity, he appears untouchable because an investigating attorney on the Chicago-based ARDC apparently is a friend. Unless we can have thorough oversight of attorneys across the board, only high profile attorneys appear to be put under the 'gun'. Another attorney is Peter Schmiedel. He actually 'teaches' other attorneys on matters dealing with 'undue influence' and 'financial exploitation' of elders and the disabled: at the same time, he perpetrates 'undue influence' and/or 'financial exploitation' of the elderly and disabled when it benefits him or should benefit him and the law firm he works for in Chicago. Multiple complaints have been filed against Peter Schmiedel with the ARDC but he's still practicing law and churning assets of the elderly and disabled. The fact is attorneys who work in Probate of Family Courts know what to look for regarding financial exploitation, undue-infulence, and emotional and medical neglect of the elderly and disabled so attorneys Peter Schmiedel can 'hide' their crimes in plain sight and in fact, use the Courts to perpetrate more crimes and ultimately earn more money off of the elderly and disabled. Cheryl Baswell;;-Gutherie's mistake was that she was a candidate for public office and its know that once you become a candidate, the opposition will flush out and expose the color of your dirty-laundry in a hear beat. Glad to hear she was caught, but how do we catch all the other 'thieves' before it's too late when the ARDC refuses to do anything...Hi-speed discipline in thousands of cases across America could not only save lives, but millions of dollars of assets belonging to the elderly and disabled.
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