ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) - The Louisiana Supreme Court has approved an agreement to place Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell Jr. on probation for five years in an attorney disciplinary proceeding.
The Town Talk reports (https://townta.lk/1dK5biS) Terrell agreed to a joint petition for consent discipline. The Supreme Court accepted the petition and suspended Terrell from practicing law for one year and one day, but the court then deferred the suspension and instead placed him on five years’ probation.
The action comes following an investigation by the court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel into allegations that Terrell “failed to properly supervise a non-lawyer employee, allowing the employee to commingle and convert client funds,” according to a court news release.
The employee used more than $1,100 from a client account to pay personal bills, including cable television and telephone bills, and wrote checks for cash totaling about $3,350, using Terrell’s signature stamp, according to a “joint stipulation of facts” in the case.
Terrell issued a news release regarding the disciplinary action against him.
“I failed to monitor all the activities of my secretary who had been with me for several years. As a result, that person improperly accessed my client trust account and spent a small amount of money,” Terrell said in his news release.
“Immediately upon learning of this situation, I personally replaced all the funds that belonged to the third parties and fully cooperated with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
“I agree with the two dissenting justices’ opinions that the discipline was harsh. However, I accepted the discipline recommended by the ODC so as not to cause a distraction from what we are attempting to accomplish in the Rapides Parish District Attorney’s Office,” Terrell said in his statement.
Terrell, 57, was Pineville City Court judge for nearly 18 years before he resigned in early 2014 to run for district attorney. He also had a private law practice, and that is where the employee misuse of funds occurred.
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Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, https://www.thetowntalk.com
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