Sanctions affirmed, mostly.

Originally published by David Coale.

Problems with the handling of a CJA criminal appeal led to imposition of sanctions by the district court; specifically: (1) removal from Fort Worth’s CJA panel; (2) a $750 fine; and (3) “12 hours of ethics courses at an accredited law school” within a specified period. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the imposition of sanctions and the first two specific sanctions, but set aside the third as not being “the least restrictive sanction necessary to deter the inappropriate behavior”: “To do this, [the attorney] would presumably need to take the LSAT, apply, and be admitted into a law school. He would then likely need to suspend his law practice—12 hours of classes would almost make Luttrell a fulltime student. And finally, even if he did all this, we are aware of no law school that even offers 12 hours of ethics courses in a single semester.” In re Luttrell, No. 17-10589 (Sept. 28, 2018, unpublished).

 

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