In re Disbarment of Stephens

On the 13th of June, 1890, the court in Bank rendered the following opinion herein:'—■

Paterson, J.—In this matter we have received a petition signed by a large number of members of the judiciary and bar of Los Angeles County, asking, on behalf of respondent herein, a modification of the order of suspension heretofore entered herein. In support of this request, they represent that the proceedings have been pending for over a year, and that during that time his practice has been almost entirely suspended; that he has heretofore borne an excellent reputation,—has never been charged with any infraction of the rules governing professional conduct, and will be careful not to do so in the future; that he is of a sensitive nature, and in the opinion of the petitioners has already been sufficiently punished.

*85 In determining the matter, we overlooked the fact that the proceedings had been pending for over a year, and of course were not aware of the alleged effect upon the respondent and his practice, and did not consider them in mitigation of punishment.

We think that the request of so large a proportion of the members of the bar with whom the respondent is engaged in practice is…

This is a proceeding for the disbarment of C. C. Stephens, an attorney and counselor at law. The allegations of the accusation are set forth in the opinion of this court rendered at the time of the decision overruling the demurrer. ( 77 Cal. 857 .) Many immaterial matters are stated in the accusation; but as there was no motion to strike out, they were not referred to at the time the demurrer was overruled. The result was, that in taking testimony the commissioners appointed by the court, not knowing what allegations would be deemed material, admitted many hearsay statements, and a great deal of evidence that was not relevant to the material matters charged. Some of the evidence went in without objection, but we have considered only such portions of the evidence as is competent and relevant to the material issues.

The gist of the charge is, that while associated with Colonel Wells as an attorney of record for the defendants in the cases against B. A. Stephens and A. M. Thornton for criminal libel, the respondent, C. C. Stephens, represented to Bell, the accuser herein, and prosecuting witness in said case, that Colonel Wells was the person really guilty of the libels alleged in…