People v. Don R. Pope. 14PDJ085. January 30, 2015. The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ conditional admission of misconduct and publicly censured Don R. Pope (Attorney Registration Number 19442) with conditions of ethics school and continuing legal education credits. The public censure took effect January 30, 2015.
Pope represented a client in a child custody case. He repeatedly asserted claims of child abuse against his client’s husband even though the trial court had already ruled those claims not credible. Pope knew this ruling had not been appealed. Pope also repeatedly advanced claims of bias against the judge in three frivolous motions to disqualify the judge that lacked proper support. Finally, Pope failed to report his 2007 conviction of driving under the influence to the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.
Through this misconduct, Pope negligently violated Colo. RPC 3.1 (a lawyer shall not assert frivolous claims) and Colo. RPC 8.4(d) (a lawyer shall not engage in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice) and knowingly violated Colo. RPC 3.4(c) (a lawyer shall not knowingly disobey an obligation under the rules of a tribunal).