In Re Rothrock

THE COURT.

By a complaint filed in the Justice’s Court of San Jose Township, Donald A. Rothrock, then a member of the bar of California, was charged with the crime of petty theft. On February 5, 1941, Rothrock pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to a term of six months in the county jail. After he had served about three months of

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that time, he was paroled for the purpose of receiving medical treatment at the Veterans’ Bureau in Colorado.

In conformity with the provisions of the State Bar Act, a certified copy of the judgment of conviction was transmitted to this court which, on May 12, 1941, made an order disbarring Rothrock from practice. More than a year and one-half later, by a series of motions and petitions he challenged the validity of that order upon the grounds, generally stated, that the record of his conviction, as presented to this court, did not justify his disbarment. In support of one of these motions, he declares that petty theft does not necessarily involve moral turpitude. He also alleges that his crime, if any, was not petty theft and that the prosecuting officers, by overreaching him, induced him to enter a plea of guilty. At the time of committing the act and entering the plea, he continues, he was insane. Before ordering his disbarment based upon the conviction of petty theft, Roth-rock asserts, this court should have afforded him an opportunity to appear and defend against any finding of moral obliquity, and by reference or otherwise, ascertained the facts concerning the offense for which he was prosecuted. In two other notices of motion he attacks the order of disbarment upon some or all of the same grounds.

The State Bar Act provides that the clerk of the court in which an attorney is convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude shall transmit a record of such conviction to this court. A plea of guilty is deemed to be a conviction. If the judgment is final, proceedings to disbar the attorney shall be undertaken by the Supreme Court and the record of conviction shall be conclusive evidence. (Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 6100, 6101, 6102.) Rothrock admits that he was disbarred upon a record of conviction submitted in accordance with these provisions, but he contends that the crime of petty theft does not necessarily involve moral turpitude. He insists that only upon a consideration of the evidence concerning the act for which he was convicted may that question be determined. .