INDIANA COURT SUSPENDS WASHINGTON PROSECUTOR

Defendant's Notes Taken Improperly

The Indiana Supreme Court yesterday suspended Washington County Prosecutor
Cynthia Winkler from practicing law for 120 days and her chief deputy for
60 days in a case in which they surreptitiously took handwritten notes from
a drug defendant during a deposition.

The suspensions will begin after the high court arranges for a temporary
replacement prosecutor.

Yesterday's ruling stems from a May determination by a hearing officer for
the court's Disciplinary Commission that Winkler and Blaine Goode, her
deputy, violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for Indiana attorneys
while prosecuting the drug charges in 2003.

Winkler's suspension is 30 days longer than the 90 days recommended by the
hearing officer and twice as long as the term originally sought by a
commission attorney.

Goode's suspension matched hearing officer Leslie Shively's recommendation,
though the commission asked that he receive only a reprimand.

The high court's opinion, written by Chief Justice Randall Shepard, said
"the recommended sanction is not adequate and does not sufficiently reflect
the serious nature of Winkler's misconduct."

The actions taken by the prosecutors were "blatant ethical violations,"
according to the Supreme Court.

Shepard wrote that the prosecutors, "blinded by their zealous quest to
prosecute the defendant . lost sight of basic ethical considerations."

Winkler and Goode were prosecuting Lewis Steward on methamphetamine charges
in February 2003 when defense attorney Mark Clark, preparing for the trial,
questioned a police officer involved in the case.

Steward communicated with Clark during the deposition by writing on a legal
pad passed between the two of them. Steward left the pad face down on a
table when he and Clark left the courtroom to confer in private.

Goode, who remained at the table with Winkler, ripped the page of notes
from the legal pad and handed it to his boss. Winkler then "concealed them
by placing the notes among a stack of files she had before her on the
table," according to the Supreme Court.

Winkler wanted to compare Steward's handwriting to that on a
methamphetamine recipe being used as evidence in the drug case.

Taking the notes "surreptitiously," instead of getting a search warrant,
subpoena or court order, violated the attorney-client privilege, Shepard wrote.

"Maintaining the confidentiality of communications between an attorney and
a client is a foundational element of our justice system," he wrote.

Winkler said in an interview yesterday that "we apologize for violating
Lewis Steward's attorney-client privilege. We were wrong and overzealous in
the prosecution of a meth dealer. It will never happen again."

Goode, who had been a lawyer for only eight months before the incident,
said he apologized "for my action in seizing the note. There is no excuse
for it. I acted like the police officer I had been for 10 years."

Taking the notes violated a rule against obtaining evidence by means that
violate a person's rights, the Supreme Court said.

The high court also accepted the hearing officer's finding that the
prosecutors violated rules against making false statements and engaging in
conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation when they
tried to hide the fact that they had the notes, and that the behavior was
"prejudicial to the administration of justice," another violation.

Winkler "even went through the charade of looking through her files and not
finding the missing notes she knew were there" after the defense team
noticed they were missing, Shepard wrote.

Taking the notes concerns the justices, the opinion said, "but their
attempts to conceal their misconduct are even more distressing."

In that regard, "the most troubling aspect of this case is Winkler's
insistence, even in the proceedings before the hearing officer, that she
had done nothing wrong," the opinion said.

It noted the hearing officer's conclusion that Winkler has no understanding
of why her actions were wrongful.

"It is this lack of insight that leads us to conclude that a significant
sanction is necessary to ensure that the seriousness of her misconduct is
impressed upon her," it said.

Winkler has been an attorney for more than 20 years, the court noted. "In
light of her insistence that she did nothing wrong," it said, "we have
grave concerns that similar conduct could be repeated in the future."

Winkler said, however, that it will not. She and Goode said they intend to
return to the prosecutor's office after their suspensions.

"We accept responsibility for our actions and the punishment administered
by the Supreme Court," Winkler said.

The Supreme Court concluded that all lawyers must "understand that it is
unacceptable to tolerate litigation premised on 'the end justifies the
means.' "

Laura Iosue, the disciplinary commission attorney who prosecuted Winkler
and Goode, said she was "very pleased with the result."

Steward was convicted in the drug case and sentenced to 20 years in prison.