Legal Ethics
Prison Is Next Destination for Disbarred Lawyer Now Working at Kmart
Posted Jan 24, 2008, 10:43 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The downfall of disbarred Charleston, W.Va.., lawyer Leonard Coleman, sentenced yesterday to almost three years in prison for embezzlement, is like a Greek tragedy, according to his defense lawyer.
Coleman once made $240,000 a year as a partner at Goodwin & Goodwin. Now he stocks shelves at night at Kmart, said his lawyer, Troy Giatras, the Charleston Gazette reports.
U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. sentenced Coleman yesterday to 33 months in prison. Coleman had pleaded guilty in August to mail fraud for taking almost $200,000 of bond fees due to his firm, the story reports.
Coleman took the bus to the courthouse for his sentencing. "It's a financial disaster that he has created for himself, and he knows that," Giatras said of his client.