## Facts

- John Harvey Wallace was admitted to the Colorado bar in 1989 and was subject to the Colorado Supreme Court’s attorney-discipline jurisdiction.
- Wallace assaulted his girlfriend, causing severe bodily injury in January 1991.
- He pleaded guilty to a municipal assault offense and received a 180-day jail sentence with most time suspended; he served a short period of confinement.
- The parties stipulated that Wallace had assaulted the victim on more than one occasion, including a prior incident in late 1990 causing serious facial injuries; no charges were filed for that earlier incident.
- The stipulated facts indicated alcohol use commonly accompanied the assaults.
- After the January 1991 arrest, Wallace participated in a batterers’ treatment program and Alcoholics Anonymous, and he paid (and agreed to continue paying) the victim’s medical expenses.
- The parties stipulated there were no further incidents after January 1991 and that Wallace maintained visitation and child-support payments.
- Wallace conditionally admitted professional misconduct for conduct adversely reflecting on his fitness to practice law.

## Issues

1. Whether Wallace’s off-duty domestic assaults constituted professional misconduct as conduct adversely reflecting on fitness to practice law.
2. Whether the court should accept the stipulated conditional admission and impose the inquiry panel’s recommended sanction of a three-month suspension and costs.

## Decision

- The Colorado Supreme Court accepted the stipulation, agreement, and conditional admission of misconduct approved by the inquiry panel.
- The court suspended Wallace from the practice of law for three months.
- The court ordered Wallace to pay disciplinary costs of $45.98 within thirty days.

## Legal Principles

- Off-duty criminal conduct, including domestic violence causing serious injury, can constitute lawyer misconduct when it adversely reflects on fitness to practice law.
- The court may impose discipline based on a stipulation and conditional admission of misconduct when the admitted facts support a rule violation and the proposed sanction is appropriate.
- In setting discipline, the court may consider aggravation (severity and repetition of violence) and mitigation (treatment efforts, restitution, and absence of further incidents).

## Conclusion

The court imposed a public three-month suspension and costs after accepting stipulated facts and an admission that repeated domestic assaults, including a criminal assault, adversely reflected on the attorney’s fitness to practice, while also crediting post-offense treatment and remedial conduct in determining the sanction.


People v. Wallace, 837 P.2d 1223 (Colo. 1992)