Lawyer License Suspension for Possession of Drugs

In Santos v. Board of Disciplinary Appeals No. D-3523, 36 Tex. Sup. J. 1000 (June 16, 1993), a lawyer had been sentenced by a criminal court to two years probation without adjudication of guilt for felony possession of cocaine. The Board of Disciplinary Appeals then held that the lawyer's license must be suspended until he completed probation. The Court affirmed that determination on its merits, although it did so without an opinion. The Court thus construed the disciplinary rules to mean that felony possession of cocaine was a crime to which compulsory discipline applied. The issue in Santos was the same as the issue presented by Lock's appeal in this case: whether a felony conviction for possession of cocaine is an "Intentional Crime" and a "felony involving moral turpitude." Id. at 1.06(O), 1.06(U).