A District lawyer has been suspended from practicing for three years for failing to notify bar officials that he was convicted of manslaughter by a Jamaican court, the District’s court of appeals ruled Thursday.
Patrick E. Bailey was reprimanded for the same offense in 2005 by the Virginia bar and has already served suspension in the commonwealth, court documents said. Attempts to contact Bailey were unsuccessful.
According to court documents, Bailey was arrested in January 1997 in Jamaica for a slaying while on leave from the Marines. A court in Kingston found him guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to two years hard labor.
When he applied to enter the Virginia bar, he contacted an attorney on the Pennsylvania bar for advice on reporting his conviction, documents said. Bailey claimed he was advised not to report it because it occurred outside the U.S. in a place known for “kangaroo courts.”
The Virginia bar and the District’s court of appeals both concluded he should have followed the advice on the application form: “If you have any doubts about whether any matter should be reported on this questionnaire, report it.”
