Thursday, October 23, 1997
State Bar seeks McMillon's disbarment
By ANTHONY WILSON / Abilene Reporter-News
The State Bar of Texas wants former county judge James McMillon
disbarred for mishandling his clients' cases and their financial
accounts.
State Bar attorneys argued for McMillon's disbarment after
5-1/2 hours of testimony before a three-person panel in Abilene
on Tuesday night.
The panel, consisting of Abilene City Attorney Sharon Hicks,
attorney Dave Haigler and businesswoman Carole Langner, deliberated
another 1-1/2 hours before reaching a decision. Those findings
should be made public within two weeks.
"I don't have any comment to make," McMillon said
Wednesday afternoon.
Rick Yeager, an Austin attorney representing one of McMillon's
four accusers, hopes the panel accepted the bar's recommendation.
His client leveled the most damning charge against McMillon --
that he intentionally isolated his elderly mother to take her
money.
"That's not merely incompetence," Yeager said. "That's
a crime. It's not an isolated case. There's no telling what the
panel will do, but we certainly support the bar's recommendation."
Hicks said the panel members could not discuss their decision.
Tuesday's hearing was the latest in a string of legal problems
for McMillon, who served as Taylor County judge from 1979-85.
In December 1995, the State Bar publicly reprimanded McMillon
for failing to notify the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest
for five years of a $150,000 gift from a deceased client's estate.
Months later, the State Bar launched a probe into a charge
that McMillon loaned himself $50,000 from an estate he was managing
for an incapacitated widow. McMillon never made payments toward
the loan until it was discovered by the elderly woman's son, who
is now suing the attorney.
In August 1996, McMillon and his wife, Sarah, filed for bankruptcy,
seeking liquidation of $197,924 in debts. The couple listed assets
of $191,035.
This past August, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John C. Akard accused
McMillon of "self dealing" while ordering the attorney
to pay triple damages to the estate of the Heavenly Rest parishioner.
The judgment is expected to exceed $200,000.
"This matter is egregious," Akard scolded McMillon
in court.
And now McMillon is facing the end of his legal career.
Tuesday's hearing involved four cases, each of which included
numerous charges ranging from legal incompetence to mismanagement
of clients' financial accounts.
"We thought the charges were serious enough to warrant
disbarment," said Bill Garrett, the State Bar's assistant
disciplinary counsel. "If you can't trust an attorney who
has a fiduciary duty over clients' funds, the public loses trust
in the profession. Based on the evidence, I felt disbarment was
the proper punishment. It's not something we ask for all the time."
Garrett explained McMillon previously rejected an offered sanction,
prompting Tuesday's hearing before the evidentiary committee.
Though the prior offer remains confidential, Garrett said the
minimum punishment would have been a 30-day suspension because
some of the alleged violations mirror the ones involved in the
Heavenly Rest case.
McMillon could appeal his punishment to the bar's board of
disciplinary appeals. However, if the evidentiary panel ruled
for disbarment, the sanction won't be stayed as McMillon appeals
to the Texas Supreme Court.
McMillon testified in each of the four cases, admitting to
many of the charges. When Garrett asked McMillon about mitigating
circumstances that would have affected his performance, he said
McMillon replied he suffered from "bad allergies and asthma."
"It was an unusual excuse," Garrett said. "He
didn't really have a good reason. By admitting to a lot of this,
he was attempting to save his license and prove that someday he
could be an asset to the legal community again."
McMillon was elected county judge in 1978 at age 28. He served
on the Commissioners Court with his great-uncle, J.T. "Jake"
McMillon. As county judge, he ruled on probate matters he now
is accused of botching.
He left office after six years to enter into private practice.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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