WHEELING - A Republican candidate for Ohio County prosecutor could have his law license suspended on allegations he hired a felon to collect money from those who owed him, and that he also asked the felon to get him a "throw away gun."
Wheeling attorney Mark Blevins has admitted to hiring Curtis Griffin and asking him to find him a gun. But he said he didn't know Griffin was a felon, and that he only asked him to find him a weapon to purchase.
Griffin was an informant for the Ohio Valley Drug Task Force who wore a wire during meetings with Blevins and his associate. Griffin is now incarcerated for an unrelated crime, and has since called Blevins from prison to ask that he defend him. Blevins declined.
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has set oral arguments in the Blevins case for Sept. 9 - less than two months before the Nov. 4 general election, in which Blevins faces incumbent Ohio County Prosecutor Scott Smith for the post.
A three-member investigative panel for the state Lawyer Disciplinary Board has recommended to the court that Blevins' law license be suspended for 18 months, and that after reinstatement he be supervised for a period of two years.
The board also suggests that Blevins complete nine hours of ethics training in addition to the hours he already is required to complete to maintain his law license, and that he pay court costs.
Accusations Contained in Court Documents
The alleged requests by Blevins to Griffin were recorded in February 2004 by Griffin, court documents indicate.
The complaint filed with the Lawyer Disciplinary Board states that in November 2003, Blevins hired Griffin to locate "a former client who owed him money for legal services rendered," and paid Griffin $500 for expenses associated with locating the former client.
After hiring Griffin, Blevins didn't hear from him for three months, according to the complaint. Blevins then asked his investigator to locate Griffin and retrieve the $500 advanced to him.
In February 2004, Blevins' investigator allegedly contacted Griffin and discussed with him the possibility of forgiving the debt if he obtained a "throw away" gun for Blevins.
The investigator also told Griffin that there were four other clients who owed Blevins money, and he and Griffin made arrangements to meet.
Prior to a meeting with Blevins at his office on Feb. 21, 2004, Griffin was wired by a member of the Ohio Valley Drug Task Force with a body recorder and a transmitter, the complaint states.
During the meeting, Blevins told Griffin to "take steps, including the use of and threats of physical violence," to collect money for legal services rendered.
Griffin also wore a wire to a second meeting with Blevins' investigator on Feb. 25, 2004. The pair met to "further discuss the gun" for Blevins and to "discuss the scheme and items needed to collect the monies from the former clients," according to the complaint.
Blevins has responded he had no personal knowledge of the meeting between Griffin and his investigator.
More than three months later, Griffin was arrested on unrelated charges and is now incarcerated in the West Virginia correctional system.
Blevins' Response
Blevins denies he ever authorized the felon to take "any specific steps, especially any threats of physical violence," to collect the money.
In a legal response to the charges against him that is also part of the Supreme Court's records, Blevins admitted to hiring Griffin to seek out those owing him money. But he denies these persons all were clients. At least one was a contractor who "misappropriated" $8,000 advanced to him to complete a project at Blevins' Chapline Street office, he states in the document.
Blevins' attorney, Richard Hollandsworth of Wheeling, told The Intelligencer that his client hadn't been aware that Griffin "had any criminal record."
"Mr. Griffin, as it turns out, had two felonies in the federal criminal system long before Mr. Blevins began practicing law in the Wheeling area, and to which Mr. Blevins was not privy," Hollandsworth wrote.
In their legal response to the allegations, Blevins and Hollandsworth said Blevins asked the investigator to get him a gun in exchange for the money he advanced to Blevins.
Blevins, who has a military background, continued to explain that - to him - a "throw away" gun is one that if it "ceases to operate, you do not spend money to fix, and you throw it away."
"It is significantly different from a 'throw down' gun," Blevins said.
He said he never used the term "throw away." It was only used by Griffin, according to Blevins.
"What others would have you believe is he (Blevins) was looking for a 'throw-down gun,' which is a whole other category of gun," Hollandsworth told The Intelligencer.
He claimed that Blevins had offered to forgive the $500 advanced to Griffin if Griffin would locate a gun. Blevins was to then negotiate a purchase for the gun, according to Hollandsworth.
"Mr. Blevins has never admitted to hiring a felon," Hollandsworth said. "He has always admitted to seeking the services of Mr. Griffin to locate people, but he did not know Mr. Griffin was a felon until after he ended his relationship with Mr. Griffin.
"He found out he was a felon when Mr. Griffin then sought to retain Mr. Blevins' services as a criminal defense attorney for the charges in which he is now incarcerated. Mr. Blevins refused to represent him - which was over a year prior to Mr. Blevins even finding out that the Ohio Valley Drug Task Force taped his meeting with Mr. Griffin while in his law office."
The Words of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board
Complaints against Blevins were filed with the state Lawyer Disciplinary Board in December 2006, and a local hearing of the board's investigative panel was held in December 2007 in Wheeling to consider the charges against Blevins.
Members of the hearing panel subcommittee were attorneys David W. Frame of Clarksburg and Daniel B. Fowler II of Parkersburg, and Bonnie Ritz of Wheeling.
In its filings with the court, the investigative panel states the following:
"Clearly a lawyer with (Blevins') substantial experience would fully understand and realize that his conduct was criminal in nature and that serious harm and potential injury could be the possible outcome of the series of events he had set in motion by meeting with his investigator and a two-time felon in his office to discuss the procurement of a 'throw away gun,' the extortion of money, and then leaving town.
"It is only through the intervening act of (the felon's) arrests in unrelated criminal matters which appears to have caused the events (Blevins) has set in motion to come to an end. ... While it is not disputed that any person was harmed as a result of (Blevins') conduct, there certainly was the potential for injury in the scheme (he) discussed with his investigator and a two-time felon."
Possible Implications of the Sept. 9 Hearing
West Virginia Code specifically does not require a county prosecutor to have a law license, but it does spell out the duties for which the prosecutor is responsible, said Sarah Bailey, a spokeswoman with the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office.
"It would be impossible for the prosecutor to carry out some of these duties if his law license were suspended," she said.
The state Supreme Court has ruled in past decisions that a county prosecutor does need a law license to do the job, according to Bailey.
Phillip Morrison, executive director of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute, said an active law license is required to serve as a county prosecutor. "If someone can't practice law, they probably couldn't serve as prosecutor," he said.
Blevins responded that having a suspended license isn't the same as losing one's law license, and that he would still have his law license.
He and Hollandsworth pointed out that no complaint was ever filed against Blevins in his 18 years as a lawyer until 2006, which is when he made his intentions known to local attorneys that he would seek the office of Ohio County prosecutor in 2008.