Attorney Grievance Commission v. Noren

Smith, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Donald H. Noren is the third member of the trio that includes Allen B. Spector and Maurice Roche Wyatt. See Spector v. State, 289 Md. 407 , 425 A.2d 197 , cert. denied, 452 U.S. 906 (1981), and Attorney Griev. Comm’n v. Spector, 293 Md. 324 , 443 A.2d 965 (1982).

Bar Counsel, acting on behalf of the Attorney Grievance Commission, filed a petition with us seeking disciplinary ⁶¹² action against Donald H. Noren upon the basis of his conviction of bribery along with Messrs. Spector and Wyatt. Noren already stands suspended from the practice of law in this State until the further order of this Court. An order to that effect was entered pursuant to Maryland Rule BV16 subsequent to his conviction in the trial court.

The facts are fully recounted in Spector v. State, supra. Pursuant to Rule BV9, we designated the Honorable Walter R. Haile of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County to hear the charges. He has filed with us a report which states in relevant part: "Respondent was served on January 4, 1982 in the State of Florida and the 60 days allowed for response has expired and a Decree Pro Confesso was entered on the motion of the Petitioner, with leave to the Petitioner to produce evidence it determines necessary to allow the Court to carry out its function under Maryland Rule BV 11 a. "The matter was set for hearing on March 29, 1982 at 9:30 a.m. and on March 16,1982, the parties were sent a notice of that hearing.

On the day of the hearing Glenn M. Grossman, Esquire and Kendall R. Calhoun, Esquire appeared as counsel for Petitioner. There was no appearance on behalf of the Respondent. However, on the day of the hearing the Court received from the Respondent, Donald H. Noren, a letter which is marked Defendant’s Exhibit #1 and which speaks for itself. No witnesses were called by either party to testify.

However, counsel for Petitioner introduced certified copies of the docket entries of Indictments #17934403, #17934406 and #17935509 in the case of State of Maryland vs. Donald H. Noren, which were received in evidence as Petitioner’s Exhibits 1A, IB and 1C. They also introduced into evidence copies of the indictments in the same cases which were received as Petitioner’s Exhibits 2A, 2B and 2C. ⁶¹³ FINDINGS OF FACT "This Court takes judicial notice of the case of Spector v. State, 289 Md. 407 , as conclusive proof, by clear and convincing evidence that the Respondent committed the crimes of bribery in violation of Article 27, Section 23, Annotated Code of Maryland, and was convicted thereof within the meaning of Rule BV 10 e. The Respondent does not dispute that the convictions are final. "It is a proven fact that in the proceedings in the Criminal Court of Baltimore City, the trial judge found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that in each of the three cases against Respondent the monies which passed