The State Bar of Arizona’s (SBA) disciplinary panel, led by Napolitano-appointed Judge Margaret Downie, suspended the law license of Kari Lake’s attorney Bryan Blehm on Friday for 60 days over what the panel found were violations of ethic rules. The suspension goes into effect on July 7.
The panel’s decision stems from Blehm’s statement a pleading that 35,563 ballots were inserted into the 2022 election. The Arizona Supreme Court sanctioned him $2,000 for the statement.
“What they’re going to do is they’re going to sanction the f*** out of me with costs and fees to try to prevent me from practicing law again.” Blehm said in a video posted on X discussing the matter Friday afternoon. “That’s what the end result is going to be.”
But Maricopa County did not dispute the accusation that they had no chain-of-custody records regarding the retrieval and/or delivery of 35,563 ballot affidavit envelopes. Failing to document chain of custody for ballots is a class 2 misdemeanor.
Blehm continued, “If I could be convicted, suspended on a month of evidence without hardly any participation on my behalf. … Arizona attorneys, right, attorneys throughout the United States, right? They are waging war on us. Okay? They took this statement and immediately jumped to sanctions. … They are straight up lying in the court, and that was part of what we intended to do with this number, right? We need to call them on the carpet at every chance.”
The SBA claimed that Blehm violated ER 3.1, ER 3.3(a)(1), ER 8.4(c), and ER 8.4(d) of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct. These are uniform rules that are being used to disbar conservative election attorneys. Downie granted the SBA’s Motion for Summary Judgment on April 30, depriving Blehm of a full trial with witnesses and evidence.
Judge Downie set an aggravation/mitigation hearing for May 21. Blehm, who represented himself throughout the proceedings, requested to participate by Zoom (an option he’d been offered before in previous hearings), or postpone the hearing, due to family medical issues.
Meanwhile, Blehm’s stepdaughter, Jess, had been hospitalized and was in critical condition. The court denied his request.
Next, while he was in the Intensive Care Unit, Blehm filed a motion for a two-week continuance, which was also denied. Jess died the next day.
Count One of the bar’s claim against Blehm arose out of his assertion to a court in pleadings filed representing Lake in her 2022 election challenge that it was an “undisputed fact” between the parties that 35,563 ballots were added or “injected” at Runbeck Election Services, the third-party vendor. Blehm explained in his Answer to the SBA that he believed defendant Governor Katie Hobbs, who Lake sued over her loss in the gubernatorial race, was in agreement about the lack of a chain of custody for the 35,563 ballots, since Hobbs’ pleadings reflected two different numbers for the number of ballots that arrived at Runbeck versus the number that were allegedly then sent to Maricopa County for tabulation.
In all, the panel found that Blehm violated four ethics rules:
– ER 1, a lawyer shall not assert or controvert an issue unless there is a good faith basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous;
– ER 3.3(a)(1), a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made;
– ER 8.4(c), conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation; and
– ER 8.4(d), conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
The panel claimed that “Respondent’s misrepresentations needlessly expanded the proceedings in the Arizona Supreme Court,” but didn’t elaborate any further.
Blehm was not disciplined over charges brought by the SBA regarding posts he made on X expressing concern about the Arizona Supreme Court’s Task Force on Disinformation silencing election attorneys.
Five aggravating factors were found: 9.22(b), dishonest or selfish motive; 9.22(d), multiple offenses; 9.22(e), bad faith obstruction of the disciplinary proceeding by intentionally failing to comply with rules or orders of the disciplinary agency; 9.22(g), refusal to acknowledge wrongful nature of conduct; and 9.22(i), substantial experience in the practice of law.
The panel said Blehm violated 9.22(e) by “fil[ing] a frivolous counterclaim that was stricken on the State Bar’s motion.” They declined to find the aggravating factor urged by the SBA of “a pattern of misconduct.”
The panel added it was skeptical of finding a mitigating factor of no prior discipline because Blehm refused to express remorse.
In determining the length of the suspension, the panel said, “[T]he hearing panel concludes that a long-term suspension is excessive for a first offense that, while serious, involved relatively isolated and easily detectable misstatements.”
After the suspension, Blehm will be placed on probation for a year and required to take “five additional CLE hours in the area of ethics/professional responsibility.” He is required to pay the SBA’s costs and expenses incurred in the proceedings.
Downie was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals previously by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano. The non-attorney on the panel, Marsha Sitterly, also appeared to be a progressive, serving on boards for Grand Canyon Conservancy, Tucson United Way, and the Pima County Workforce Investment Board.
Attorneys for the Arizona bar wanted the panel to suspend Blehm’s license for six months and one day. A suspension lasting more than half-a-year triggers a requirement that Blehm would have to take the bar exam again and then apply to be reinstated.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in early May that attorneys could not be sanctioned for bringing election challenges. This decision may have influenced the panel’s decision to suspend Blehm’s license for a relatively short period of time.
The SBA has come under fire for targeting conservative attorneys. Nonetheless, the SBA also filed charges against two of Lake’s other election attorneys, Kurt Olsen and Andrew Parker. Longtime Maricopa County prosecutor April Sponsel’s license was suspended for two years over prosecuting Antifa. Many more conservative attorneys have undergone charges by the SBA, and settled with unreported private diversion agreements.
As of press time, Blehm has raised more than $2,400 of $50,000 requested for his legal defense at GiveSendGo. It was not clear whether he intends to appeal.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
If those four ethics rules were enforced, then at least 80% of the country’s lawyers would be disbarred. This is a political persecution.