A sanction sought by the state Lawyer Disciplinary Board's Office of Disciplinary Counsel to have former Kanawha County Prosecutor Mark Plants' license to practice law suspended for three months was denied in a state Supreme Court opinion released on Thursday.
Plants, now engaged in a private law practice in South Charleston, was elected Kanawha County Prosecutor in 2008 and re-elected in 2012.
"We conclude that given Mr. Plants' circumstances as a former prosecutor and current sole practitioner, suspension would not serve as a greater punishment to him or deterrent to others than removal from office has already served," according to the opinion released on Thursday, delivered by Justice Elizabeth Walker.
In February of 2014, Plants' ex-wife filed a domestic violence petition seeking protection for herself and their two sons after reporting to State Police that Plants had injured one son by whipping him with a belt.
An emergency protective order was issued, and about three weeks after it took effect, Plants spotted his sons in his ex-wife's car parked outside a Charleston pharmacy and spoke with them. The next day, State Police filed a misdemeanor criminal complaint in magistrate court charging Plants with violating the terms of the emergency protective order. On March 31, 2014, State Police filed a second criminal complaint charging him with domestic battery based on an investigation of his ex-wife's complaint of Plants injuring a son by disciplining him with a belt.
Following action by the Kanawha County Commission, Plants was removed from the prosecuting attorney's post in October of 2014. In early 2015, both charges against the former prosecutor were dismissed after Plants attended a series of domestic violence intervention classes and completed a six month pretrial monitoring program.
In May of 2015, Plants went before a three-member hearing panel subcommittee of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board, which found that he had violated three professional conduct rules and recommended that he be publicly reprimanded and ordered to pay the costs of the proceeding.
In January, the Lawyer Disciplinary Board's Office of Disciplinary Counsel petitioned the Supreme Court to suspend Plant's law license for three months, calling the hearing panel's recommendation of a public reprimand "inadequate."
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5169, or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.