Former Kanawha County prosecuting attorney Mark Plants should have his license to practice law suspended for his conduct while in office, according to lawyers with the West Virginia Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Disciplinary lawyers have objected to recommendations made to the state Supreme Court by a hearing panel, which found Plants should be publicly reprimanded for violating rules lawyers in the state are expected to abide by. A reprimand is more severe than an admonishment but not as harsh as the suspension or annulment of a law license.
"The Office of Disciplinary Counsel insists that the found violations warrant a more severe sanction, to wit, the suspension of [Plants'] law license," the ODC's brief objecting to the hearing panel states. The "sanction proposed by the Hearing Panel Subcommittee is inadequate considering the clear and convincing evidence against [Plants].
"In ordering a strong sanction in this lawyer disciplinary proceedings, this Honorable Court will be serving its goals of protecting the public, reassuring the public as to the reliability and integrity of attorneys, and safeguarding the administration of justice," the disciplinary counsel's brief states. It is signed by ODC lawyer Joanne Vella Kirby.
Arguments between Plants and the ODC are set for Feb. 7 before the Supreme Court.
Plants agrees with the sanctions recommended by the hearing panel, which also recommend Plants be required to pay the cost of the disciplinary proceedings against him.
"The decision by the ODC to challenge the Panel's decision is, to use a football term, piling on," Plants' attorney Jim Cagle wrote in response to the ODC's objections.
Plants was removed as prosecutor in October 2014 and, in 2015, two misdemeanor criminal charges were dismissed against him in Kanawha Magistrate Court.
Plants' trouble began after his ex-wife, Allison, complained about him striking their then-11-year-old son with a belt to the point of leaving bruises. She was granted a domestic violence protective order, and a West Virginia State Police trooper from the northern part of the state was assigned to investigate.
Plants was charged with violating the domestic violence protective order shortly afterward, when he approached his two sons outside a Fruth Pharmacy. The boys were in the car while their mother was in the store when Plants arrived. Plants said he went to his sons for their protection, but the ODC argued he knowingly violated the protective order.
A second misdemeanor was filed against Plants by the trooper assigned to investigate the incident with the belt. Plants was charged with battery for leaving a 6- to 7-inch bruise on the boy's thigh. The criminal charges were dropped after Plants attended a domestic violence intervention program for 32 weeks.
Plants' "misconduct created a conflict of interest that interfered with his ability to properly represent his client, the State," the disciplinary panel wrote. Plants, "in violating the Protective Order, committed a criminal act that reflects adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects."
Plants went before the three-member hearing panel - Huntington attorney Steve Nord, Wetzel County Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Haught and layman William Barr - in May.
"For nearly three years Mr. Plants has been in the public spotlight over spanking a son whom he dearly loves and as relates to the Fruth encounter when he expressed that love. ... Mr. Plants' verified consent to the Panel decision represented an effort by him to put an end to what is much more of a strain on his family than it is a strain on his professional life. Mr. Plants has lost his elected position, suffered public ridicule, has seen his family members investigated by the ODC, has had his friends and colleagues subpoenaed by investigators, has listened to and read the comments of local politicians publicly criticizing him, and has suffered financially," Plants' brief in response to the ODC's objections states.
Plants, a Republican, was first elected Kanawha prosecutor in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012.
Reach Kate White at
kate.white@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-1723 or follow
@KateLWhite on Twitter.