People v. Harry J. Morel Jr. 16PDJ079. October 26, 2016. The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ conditional admission of misconduct and disbarred Harry J. Morel Jr. (attorney registration number 20263), effective October 26, 2016.
Morel served as the elected prosecutor of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, from 1979 to 2012. He then became an Assistant District Attorney in the Office of the District Attorney for St. Charles Parish, a position in which he served until January 11, 2013. During his tenure in that office, Morel solicited sex from individuals who were defendants or who had family members who were defendants in the St. Charles Parish criminal justice system. While soliciting sex from these individuals, Morel used the Office of the District Attorney to provide benefits to the individuals, including by falsifying community service reports. He also harassed a particular individual who was facing criminal charges in his jurisdiction; he attempted to prevent and dissuade her from attending or testifying before a federal grand jury proceeding by telling her to destroy evidence and to lie; and he asked her to conceal information that might have led to her being a witness before a grand jury.
On August 17, 2016, Morel pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(d)(1). This felony statute provides: “Whoever intentionally harasses another person and thereby hinders, delays, prevents, or dissuades any person from attending or testifying in an official proceeding or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.” Morel was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000.00 fine. The Supreme Court of Louisiana granted his petition to permanently resign his law license. The court’s order permanently prohibited him from seeking readmission in Louisiana or admission to practice law in any jurisdiction.
Morel’s conduct violated Colo. RPC 8.4(b) (a lawyer shall not commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects) and constitutes grounds for discipline under C.R.C.P. 251.5.