DUMB LAWYER OF THE WEEK: WANTED FOR DRUG OFFENCES
by Hazed
This week instead of a dumb criminal, the subject of my article is a dumb lawyer. Or not, as you will see…
A trial of a suspected fraudster was halted after the judge discovered that the defence attorney’s law licence was inactive – and what’s more, he had a warrant for his arrest on drug and theft charges.
The defendant, Jesus Binay Morales, was on trial in San Francisco Bay’s Redwood City for fraudulently purchasing more than 150 iPads.
His attorney, Deron Kartoon, was busted when prosecutors tried to get in contact with him and found out from the California State Bar website that he was on inactive status, which meant he wasn’t eligible to practice law. He had apparently been suspended numerous times for failing to pay his membership fees.
They then discovered that Kartoon had a bench warrant for his arrest, as a result of him failing to appear in court last month on misdemeanour charges of commercial burglary, fraudulent use of a credit card, attempted grand theft and possession of a meth pipe. Wow.
Kartoon was packed off to jail although he quickly posted bail of $15,000. He said that his troubles should not deter future clients from engaging his services: “No, absolutely I think I’m competent, and when I get my head screwed on, I don’t think there’s another attorney that can outwork me,” he said. “There’s going to be smarter lawyers out there, but no one’s going to work harder than I will.” He also claimed that although he has drug issues, they are “being handled” and he denied all the other charges.
Meanwhile, his ex-client has been assigned a new lawyer – hopefully a more reliable one!
