LOS ANGELES — Emory Luther King Jr., a Carmichael attorney, was recently suspended from practicing law for six months by the State Bar Court of California
The order was enacted Feb. 4 after an investigation into a complaint revealed that King had solicited sex from a client.
King was a member of the Sacramento County Bar Association indigent defense panel where he represented defendants who could not be represented by public defenders. In November 2014, the attorney was assigned a 22-year-old female client in a matter where she was charged with three felonies.
According to court documents, King sent another attorney to represent the client in her preliminary hearing and called her afterward to see how the proceeding had gone. He instructed her to come to his house that night and allegedly told her to bring Viagra. The client, being young and unaware of an appropriate attorney-client relationship, believed she needed to go to King’s home to discuss her case.
The client arrived at King’s home that evening to discuss the matter. Shortly into the conversation, the attorney solicited sex from the woman stating that his continued work on her case would be dependent upon whether she consented. The client left King’s home and reported King’s conduct to the Conflict Criminal Defenders Office. Upon hearing of the charges, King withdrew from the defense panel.
As part of King’s six-month suspension, the attorney will need to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) and submit quarterly reports to his probation officer. He will also need to inform all of his remaining clients and any opposing counsel of the status of his license.
The 71-year-old attorney was admitted to the California State Bar in 1976 after graduating from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. He had no prior record of discipline.