Committee on Professional Ethics v. Jones

HARRIS, Justice.

Respondent, an attorney, failed to file his Iowa income tax returns for 1979, 1980, and 1981. He nevertheless certified he had done so in his 1981, 1982, and 1983 annual statements and questionnaire to the client security and attorney disciplinary commission. As an outgrowth of his failure to file returns respondent pled guilty in district court to one of three counts of fraudulent practices (third degree), in violation of Iowa Code sections 422.25(5), 714.8(10) and 714.-11(1) (1983).

The factual background follows an altogether familiar but always puzzling pattern. At the…