MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2002
SEX ON THE HILL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN • 11B
Judge dismisses attorney for sleeping with client
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Defense attorney Theresa Olson, a fiery advocate who sometimes cries openly when she loses a case, was visiting a murder-defendant client behind bars when jail guards looking through a window reported seeing them having sex.
Olson was thrown off the case by the judge.
The episode could delay an already long-postponed murder trial. It has also thrown a spotlight on conduct that only recently was officially recognized by the American Bar Association as an ethical breach.
The alleged affair has derailed Olson's otherwise distinguished career and frustrated those who want to see Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay stand trial in the 1994 clubbing deaths of Rafay's family. The trial was delayed for nearly six years while Burns and Rafay fought extradition from Canada.
"What an amazing, sad, pathetic case," said Lis Wiehl, a University of Washington law professor.
How long it takes Burns' new lawyers to get up to speed on the case will determine whether it is delayed beyond its April 28 trial date.
The state bar association is investigating the jail commander's report about the alleged dalliance in a jail interview room Aug. 10, and Olson could face a range of punishments all the way up to disbarment.
Washington state has had an explicit rule against lawyer-client affairs for two years. The state Supreme Court added the rule in
light of the case of Lowell Halverson, a former bar president whose license was suspended for six months for having affairs with clients in divorce cases.
In 2000, the ABA included in its recommended code of ethics for state courts a rule expressly prohibiting lawyers from striking up affairs with their clients. The rule took effect in February.
The ABA said it has no national statistics on how many lawyers have been disciplined for having sex with their clients.
Such trysts typically involve male lawyers and female clients who are going through a divorce — not a 26-year-old, male triple-murder defendant and his married, 43-year-old counsel.
"You don't think about this and think, 'Here's this poor vulnerable guy who got sucked into this relationship,' said Boston University Law School ethics professor Nancy Moore, who lobbed the ABA to adopt the rule. "But it still creates a conflict of interest that makes the lawyer less capable of exercising independent judgment."
Wiehl, the UW law professor, asked this, for example: What could happen to the client if the relationship turned sour?
Olson, a 15-year veteran of Seattle's public defender's office, is considered an effective if eccentric lawyer who wears ruffled petticoats and homemade clothes in court.
Burns had been her sole client for nearly three years.
Burns walked away silently when asked about her during a break in a recent court hearing. Olson's boss, Bob Boruchowitz.
"You don't think about this and think, 'Here's this poor vulnerable guy who got sucked into this relationship. But it still creates a conflict of interest that makes the lawyer less capable of exercising independent judgment."
Nancy Moore Boston University Law School ethics professor
did not return calls for comment
Rafay's mother, father and sister were found beaten to death with a baseball bat in their home eight years ago. Prosecutors said Burns did it so he and Rafay could collect insurance money and profit from the sale of the house.
Burns and Rafay were arrested in British Columbia after investigators who bugged their house said they heard them acknowledge committing the crimes. Canada would not send them back to Seattle, however, because prosecutors wanted the death penalty. Prosecutors finally relented, and Burns and Rafay were extradited in 2001.
Tim Johnson, deputy police chief in Bellevue, where the family was killed, said Olson's alleged misconduct will not hurt the case in the long run.
“It's frustrating, sure,” he said. "But there's been delays all along."
University police seek intruder who entered women's dorms 7 times
By Katie Schrader
Indiana Daily Student via U-Wira
Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.
Lock your doors.
That is the advice given to the female residents at Wright Quad by the Indiana University Police Department.
In the past week there have been seven incidents reported of a male intruder entering unlocked women's dorm rooms and restrooms in Wright Quad.
The first incident was reported Sept. 5 and several more were reported Sept. 6 and Sept. 7. The perpetrator enters the unlocked room usually between 4 and 5 a.m.
In half of the cases the male has touched the female in some way, in other cases he has not made any physical contact. When the frightened female wakes up, the perpetrator runs, the police reported.
"The most important thing the female victim can do is reach over and dial 911 right away," said Lt. Jerry Minger of the IUPD.
Several of the cases have gone unreported for days, which is slowing down the investigation.
"It doesn't seem that surprising because people always prop the doors open and let random people in."
Allison Hamm
Indiana University freshman
Minger said.
IUPD has a common description of the intruder, but it is vague because the incidents occur in the dark.
The suspect is a college-age male, about 5 feet 6 inches tall to 5 feet 8 inches tall. He has a medium slender build and short black hair that is usually gelled forward. But Minger said the
details of the suspect's description remain sketchy.
"It doesn't seem that surprising because people always prop the doors open and let random people in," said freshman Allison Hamm.
Security has been tightened a Wright. But a lot of personal security lies in the hands of students.
Minger said students need to "utilize the security in place right now" by making sure the entrances into the buildings are not being propped open by a rock and making sure students know who is entering the building behind them.
Because of the reoccurring intruder there are extra patrols both inside and outside the building.
The resident assistants are doing their best to inform all of the residents living in Wright Quad about the incident.
Krystin Hart, a freshman living in Wright-Todd, said her floor "had a meeting for safety and escorting anyone of the opposite sex through the dorm."
Representatives from Wright Quad refused to comment on the matter and RPS did not return phone calls.
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