The California Bar’s top attorney and its former chief disciplinary prosecutor are under investigation for professional misconduct, according to a letter that I received today.
Attorney Edward J. McIntyre of San Diego wrote in a letter dated August 12, 2018 that he was appointed special deputy trial counsel to investigate my bar grievances against seven current and former bar attorneys, including General Counsel Vanessa Holton and former Interim Chief Trial Counsel Gregory Dresser.
It’s been a long time coming.
I first blogged about corruption in the California Bar on May 9, 2016, after bar prosecutors violated the law by withholding exculpatory evidence during the prosecution of my former client. Ironically, one of those bar prosecutors, Cydney Batchelor, had chaired the bar’s task force on prosecutorial misconduct. In a bizarre attempt to defend herself, she admitted that she had withheld the exculpatory evidence, but her supervisors whitewashed the incident anyway.
Even though bar rules required Ms. Batchelor’s supervisors to appoint an outside attorney (like Mr. McIntyre) as special counsel, and even though I demanded a special counsel repeatedly, Ms. Batchelor’s superiors closed the case themselves. A few months later, they reopened an old case against me that had been closed, and they sought my disbarment even though I had not been an active member of the California Bar in almost a decade.
On May 15, 2017, I filed suit in federal court to block the California Bar from retaliating, and that set off another chain of events. Assistant General Counsel Suzanne Grandt misled the federal court in an effort to get my case dismissed, and ultimately her client was sanctioned for her misrepresentations. Ms. Holton and her top deputy, Robert Retana, appeared as counsel in the case, but they did not correct Ms. Grandt’s misrepresentations to the court, even after I warned them in writing that they had a duty to reign in Ms. Grandt.
In a July 28, 2017 deposition, I asked Mr. Dresser if he would be investigating Ms. Grandt in light of her misrepresentations to the federal court, but Mr. Retana objected and Mr. Dresser refused to answer the question. Apparently he was trying to cover up his cover up. As best I can tell, Mr. Dresser never investigated Ms. Grandt, Mr. Retana, or Ms. Holton. Mr. Dresser now serves as director and chief counsel of California’s Commission on Judicial Performance (and I’m sure he’s doing a great job of whitewashing judicial misconduct in his new role).
You can find more details in my bar grievance against Mr. Dresser, et al. The federal case is now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and I’ve uploaded copies of my opening brief, the California Bar’s response, and my reply brief.
08/18/2018