The Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys issued its final hearing report about the case against Eric Rucker that was held on May 13.

The Board acquitted Rucker of most wrongdoing except for two infractions that Rucker’s attorney previous described as “hyper-technical.”  However, the panel said:

“The Respondent’s violations of the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct were not merely “technical” or “hyper-technical” violations.  They are serious violations.  The Respondent allowed the Kansas Supreme Court and the Disciplinary Administrator to operate under a mistake belief regarding a significant matter in an ongoing criminal investigation.”

Rucker will be informally admonished for the stipulated rule violations.

Final Ruling from Eric Rucker Disciplinary Hearing –
Rucker’s attorney, Caleb Stegall, issued the following statement:

Following today’s ruling in the disciplinary case of Eric Rucker (attached) in which Mr. Rucker was acquitted of all wrongdoing other than the two infractions he had previously stipulated to, and the least harsh discipline of an informal admonishment was imposed (thus ending the case), Mr. Rucker’s attorney Caleb Stegall issued the following statement:

Obviously, we are very pleased with today’s ruling.  Justice was done today.

The panel’s ruling is a vindication of what Mr. Rucker has maintained all along, that he was wholly innocent of the charges made—charges repeated over and over again in the media—that he lied and conducted a dishonest investigation in pursuit of a personal agenda.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and after one of the most extraordinary and contentious series of legal battles ever conducted in Kansas, culminating in professional and personal attacks on Mr. Rucker in which his every decision and word was scrutinized to the Nth degree, he has been shown to be what he is—a fundamentally honest attorney who was doing his job.

Yes, the decision found, and Mr. Rucker freely admitted and expressed his regret that some mistakes were made.  He has now been informally admonished for those mistakes, the case is over, and I hope the public can finally be told what I have known all along—that Eric Rucker is an excellent lawyer and, more importantly, he is a good and honest man who has spent his career pursuing equal justice under the law for all people.

It is a dangerous thing to practice the politics of personal destruction—when a political win is not enough and instead one’s opponents must be personally vilified, financially ruined, and their reputations smashed.  I think it speaks well of our legal process, of our Disciplinary Administrator Stan Hazlett, and indeed of the whole Kansas Bar, that in this case the politics of personal destruction—which some have fervently desired—has not prevailed.

Ron Keefover, spokesperson for the court, in his press release said “this effectively marks the end of this matter.”

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Related:

• More Tales of the Kansas Judiciary, NRO Online, Denis Boyles, Aug. 17, 2010.
• Former Kline assistant Rucker is admonished for Kansas Supreme Court testimony, Kansas City Business Journal, Aug. 17, 2010.
• Panel:  admonish Kline aide, Topeka Capital-Journal, Aug. 17, 2010.
• Allegations dropped, point of contention remains in Rucker attorney ethics case, Kansas Watchdog, May 13, 2010.

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Contact: Earl F Glynn, earl@kansaswatchdog.org, KansasWatchdog.org