In re Hickman

THE COURT. This is a petition to vacate and set aside the suspension of George W. Hickman, a member of the State Bar.

The petitioner was convicted in Alameda County of attempted grand theft, a crime involving moral turpitude. The verdict of guilty was returned and filed on February 26, 1937. The petitioner’s motion for a new trial was denied, whereupon he applied for probation. On March 17, his application was granted.

The order of probation contained the provision that “imposition of judgment and sentence be suspended for a period of five years, during which time the defendant is placed on probation. ’ ’ Then followed the conditions of the probation, including confinement in the county jail for the first fifteen months of the probationary period. On the day the order of probation was entered the petitioner gave oral notice of appeal from the order denying his motion for a new trial and also from the judgment. The determination of that appeal, in form an affirmance of the judgment and order, is found in volume 31 of California Appellate Reports, second series, at page 4 [87 Pac. (2d) 80].

Theretofore and on March 12, 1937, an order was made reciting that a “certified copy of judgment” was filed in this [73]court, from which it appeared that petitioner, an attorney at law, had been convicted of the crime of attempted grand theft. Wherefore it was ordered that petitioner be “suspended from his office as such attorney until said judgment shall become final.” It was further ordered that “should said judgment be affirmed on appeal, or otherwise become final, said George W. Hickman shall thereafter be deemed removed from said office, and that his name be stricken from the roll of Attorneys and Counsellors at Law, but in case such conviction be set aside, he shall be deemed fully restored to his office as attorney at law.”

On November 24, 1939, the superior court found that the petitioner had faithfully complied with all of the terms and conditions of probation; ordered that the verdict of guilty be changed to not guilty, and that the indictment charging the offense against the petitioner be dismissed, all pursuant to the provisions of section 1203.4 of the Penal Code.

Shortly after the entry of the order last above described the petitioner made an ex parte application to this court for an order setting aside the order of suspension, which was not granted. Later the petitioner filed the present petition and the matter came on regularly for hearing on an order to show cause, directed to the State Bar, why the petition should not be granted.