Lawyer Gets 2 Days in Jail for Snorting Coke at Courthouse During Client's Trial
Updated: A Minnesota lawyer has been sentenced to two days in jail for snorting cocaine in the Winona County Courthouse while defending a client in a terroristic threats trial.
Charles Ramsay, 43, was also fined $2,500, ordered to perform 240 hours of community service and sentenced to 10 years of probation in the third-degree felony drug possession case, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
His conviction, which resulted from a guilty plea last year, will be converted to a misdemeanor if he completes his sentence successfully.
As detailed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, Ramsey was arrested mid-trial after a police investigator present to testify in his client’s case reportedly noticed suspicious behavior in the courthouse and other authorities were called in. Trace cocaine residue allegedly was then found on the conference table Ramsay had been using.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said the fact that the crime was committed by an attorney, at the courthouse, while representing a client made the case more serious. However, he commended Ramsay for admitting he had a problem and seeking private treatment.
In an unrelated disciplinary case, the Associated Press reports that the attorney James Wolff has been disbarred, effective Oct. 1, by the North Dakota Supreme Court.
He gave a client $200 to purchase cocaine for his own use, “so they could party,” the court says in its opinion. He was also disciplined earlier concerning a felony bad check conviction and allegedly billed some clients for work that wasn’t completed.
Updated at 2:20 p.m. to include information about James Wolff and at 4:50 p.m. to include information about North Dakota Supreme Court.
