Prominent defense lawyer indicted in prescription drug case
A prominent Tennessee criminal defense lawyer was arrested Tuesday after being indicted by a grand jury on drug charges.
Bruce Poston, 67, faces two counts of delivery of a controlled substance (hydrocodone) and one count of attempted delivery, according to the News Sentinel and WBIR.
He also faces a count of driving on a suspended license, allegedly doing so when he made those deliveries in January and February.
Although Poston was swiftly released on $3,000 bond, the arrest of the Knoxville practitioner led to the appointment of another attorney to handle a case that had been scheduled for trial Tuesday afternoon. It isn’t clear what will happen to the rest of the more than 60 other Knox County cases on which he is listed as counsel.
Law professor Dwight Aarons of the University of Tennessee said Poston technically is still allowed to represent clients in court but that may not be the best practice.
“The better thing for the attorney to do is to have his cases recessed,” Aarons told WBIR. “Attorneys are people too.”
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation press release said the case against Poston resulted from a tip to the county district attorney general’s office by the wife of a former client that Poston was giving her money and pills.
See also:
News Sentinel (sub. req.): “TBI: Attorney Bruce Poston swapping money, pills for sex”
