People v. Jason Dushan Jovanovich. 16PDJ012. February 18, 2016. The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ conditional admission of misconduct and suspended Jason Dushan Jovanovich (Attorney Registration Number 32703) from the practice of law for ninety days, all stayed upon the successful completion of a three-year period of probation, with conditions that include compliance with any treatment recommendations made in an independent mental health examination. The probation took effect on February 18, 2016.
In 2013, a woman with whom Jovanovich had been romantically involved obtained a civil protection order that restrained him from contacting her. Yet Jovanovich obtained a phone referred to by police as a “Tracphone,” which he used to text the woman on several occasions in May 2014. Jovanovich asked one of his clients, who was also a friend, to contact the woman for him. The client advised him to comply with the restraining order and to stop contacting the woman, saying that the contact was not welcome. The client eventually reported Jovanovich’s violations of the restraining order to police. The police later arrested Jovanovich and interviewed him. He denied any knowledge of the Tracphone and denied texting the woman, despite knowing that these statements were false. In February 2015, Jovanovich pleaded guilty to a deferred judgment for a class-two misdemeanor, violation of a protection order.
In a separate matter, Jovanovich missed several court dates, causing the court to expend resources in trying to locate him and in holding a show-cause hearing.
Through his conduct, Jovanovich violated Colo. RPC 1.7(a) (restricting the circumstances in which a lawyer may represent a client if the representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest); Colo. RPC 8.4(a) (proscribing attempts to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct or knowingly inducing others to do so); 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); Colo. RPC 8.4(c) (a lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation); and Colo. RPC 8.4(d) (a lawyer shall not engage in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice).