An Oklahoma attorney, James Lockard, has been suspended from practicing law for a period of six months. This decision follows Lockard’s plea of no contest to charges of domestic assault and battery, and public intoxication, resulting in an initial interim suspension.
Lockard, serving as the homicide deputy division director for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, had appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court for a lifting of the interim suspension. He requested the court to impose a reprimand instead, mandate that he undergoes substance abuse treatment, or receive a deferred suspension. He also wished to return to practicing law immediately.
The state high court, after reviewing the case, issued a divided opinion. In an unpublished decision, it rejected Lockard’s argument and decided to uphold the six-month suspension.
- Some of the judges were of the view that a shorter suspension period would suffice in this case.
- Lockard had proposed that a substance abuse treatment order should be ordered in place of the suspension.
The decision further sets a precedent in the legal profession pertaining to the consequences of unprofessional or illegal behavior by practitioners in their private lives.