Duncan v. Board of Disciplinary Appeals

In Duncan v. Board of Disciplinary Appeals, 898 S.W.2d 759, 762 (Tex. 1995), an attorney pled guilty to and was placed on probation for misprision of felony, a crime defined by section 4 of Title 18 of the United States Code. That federal law provided that any person who had knowledge of the actual commission of a federal felony also committed a crime if he or she concealed the commission of the felony and did not report it to a judge or other person in civil or military authority. The federal statute under consideration provided: Misprision of Felony: Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined not more than $ 500 or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. 18 U.S.C. 4 (1948), amended by 18 U.S.C. 4 (1994). This Court held that misprision of felony did not involve moral turpitude per se "because a conviction for misprision of felony could conceivably be based upon an attorney's refusal to divulge privileged information." Duncan, 898 S.W.2d at 761. The Court concluded that an attorney convicted for misprision of felony by honoring "a solemn obligation not to reveal privileged and other confidential client information, except as permitted or required in certain limited circumstances as provided in Texas disciplinary rule 1.05" would not have committed a crime involving moral turpitude. Id. at 761-62.