Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Norris

We concur with the board’s findings, but believe that a more severe penalty is warranted. First, we take as fact that the respondent is guilty of the misdemeanor of possessing cocaine. Despite his testimony, and that of others, that there were no facts to support his conviction and that he pled guilty to avoid a trial, we decline to go behind the federal court’s judgment. As we pointed out in Disciplinary Counsel v. Mesi (1995), 72 Ohio St.3d 45, 49, 647 N.E.2d 473, 476, “a guilty plea is not a ceremony of innocence, nor can it.be rationalized in a subsequent disciplinary proceeding.”

Second,…