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Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Ind. Courts - More on "State targets prosecutor's lapsed license" [Corrected]

Updating this ILB entry from July 1st, quoted from a Gary Post-Tribune story that began:

Newton County Prosecutor J. Edward Barce, who is serving as special prosecutor in a case involving a Gary lawyer charged with trafficking with an inmate, let his law license go into inactive status for more than three years.

Until four months ago, Barce's license had been on inactive status since Aug. 5, 2005, according to Donald Lundberg, executive secretary of the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission. Barce reactivated his license on Feb. 23, Lundberg said.

Monday Cheri Glancy reported in the Newton County Enterprise:
KENTLAND — Newton County Prosecuting Attorney J. Edward Barce has had a Complaint for Disciplinary Action filed against him by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission on 13 “factual allegations,” according to the commission’s Executive Secretary Donald Lundberg. Lundberg stated the complaint was filed in April and a response was received from Barce’s attorney in May.

The complaint stated in the Supreme Court’s complaint are Barce has served as Prosecuting Attorney for the 79th Judicial Circuit since 1999, and on Aug. 5, 2005, he placed his Indiana law license in inactive status by signing an affidavit. The affidavit filed said, “I wish to place or retain my Indiana law license in inactive status. I am currently in active or inactive good standing. I neither hold judicial office, nor am I engaged in the practice of law in Indiana. I understand by claiming this status, I am required to pay a reduced annual registration fee of $45.”

The complaint also states Barce signed similar affidavits when he paid his annual fees in 2006, 2007 and 2008. During the time the law license was inactive, Barce’s inactive status meant he may not use his Indiana law license to practice law, yet during that time, the complaint states he served as the Prosecuting Attorney and his office filed more than 1,000 criminal felony and misdemeanor cases in the Newton Circuit and Superior Courts and disposed of more than 1,000 cases that had been pending in the courts.

In the response, Barce admits to all 13 of the allegations, but denies violating Indiana Professional Conduct rules. The Disciplinary Commission complaint states Barce violated a conduct rule, “A lawyer shall not practice law in a jurisdiction in violation of the regulation of the legal profession in that jurisdiction, or assist another in doing so,” by practicing law in Indiana after filing his inactivity affidavit in August, 2005, until reactivating his license in February of this year and violated the rule: “It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice;” by serving as the Prosecuting Attorney and as special prosecutor when he did not have an active Indiana law license.

The fact that Barce’s law license was inactive was brought to light on Feb. 19, in a Lake County courtroom where he was serving as a special prosecutor. His license status was pointed out by Gary defense lawyer Carl Jones during the trial of Jerome Taylor, who was accused of trafficking with an inmate. Four days later, on Feb. 23, Barce brought his law license back to active status by paying the registration fee.

Jones asked that the case be dismissed. Lake Superior Court Judge Sheila Moss continued the trial but dismissed the jury pool. In June, she found that Jones had not been harmed or prejudiced by Barce’s law license status and scheduled a jury trial for October.

Barce said he would not talk about the complaint. Superior Court Judge Dan Molter said he was unaware of the license issue with Barce before reading about the allegations in a Lake County newspaper. He did not know how this would affect the cases Barce had prosecuted during the time his license was inactive.

Lundberg said affected cases would probably be dealt with on a case by case basis dependent on the defendants who question their cases.

Here is an earlier ILB entry from July 12, 2006, headed "Benton County prosecutor receives reprimand for conflict."

[Correction 7/17/09] The entry continued with the following information, but the ILB has been informed these references are to a different Mr. Barce. Sorry for the confusion.

Another ILB entry, from Jan. 14, 2008, quotes a Lafayette Journal & Courier story identifying a "Jud Barce" as "attorney for the Benton County Board of Zoning Appeals" in a story on CAFO issues.

The Roll of Attorneys lists a "Judson Gregory Barce" in Fowler, Indiana, as "active in good standing."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 8, 2009 05:50 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts