In Re Strick

In this proceeding we review the report of the State Bar Court that petitioner has been convicted of criminal offenses involving moral turpitude and the recommendation that he be disbarred because of the severity of the misconduct surrounding the conviction of passing a forged prescription for a controlled substance. The State Bar has not made a recommendation of the appropriate discipline for petitioner’s convictions of the more serious crimes of voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon because those convictions did not become final on appeal until after State Bar proceedings were concluded.

Petitioner’s principal objections to the report and recommendation are that (1) the State Bar was without jurisdiction to conduct any conviction proceedings whatsoever with reference to the convictions which were pending on appeal; (2) this court’s order referring the forgery conviction requested only an inquiry into moral turpitude and did not authorize the Bar to recommend discipline in that matter; and (3) the findings of moral turpitude are not supported by the evidence considered by the hearing panel.

For reasons explained below we find that there is probable…