Topeka Capital-Journal - Kansas lawyer Dennis Hawver disbarred for work on Chetham dp case
Steve Hall
November 14, 2014 - 10:26am | Topeka Capital-Journal
Ozawkie lawyer Dennis Hawver disbarred for work on Chetham death penalty case
Hawver guilty of 'inexplicable incompetence' defending Cheatham
By Tim Carpenter | timothy....@cjonline.com
The Kansas Supreme Court issued an order Friday disbarring the attorney who engaged in "inexplicable incompetence" representing a Topeka man accused of two murders and sentenced to death.
Dennis Hawver, of Ozawkie, lost his license to practice law in Kansas for violating Kansas' rules of professional conduct while defending Phillip Cheatham in a 2005 trial in Shawnee County District Court.
The Supreme Court previously reversed Cheatham's murder convictions and ordered a new trial due to ineffective counsel by Hawver.
The justices, acting on recommendations of a state review board, held Hawver violated rules regarding conflict of interest, fee arrangements, competence, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and conduct adversely reflecting on a lawyer's fitness to practice law.
In addition, the high court determined Hawver failed to timely answer the formal disciplinary complaint against him.
Hawver had been disciplined for incompetence in a previous case, the Supreme Court said.
Disbarment was recommended in the case by a majority on a panel of the Kansas Board of Discipline of Attorneys, which heard evidence in the disciplinary case. One dissenting member of that panel favored indefinite suspension of Hawver's license.
"We hold that clear and convincing evidence establishes attorney misconduct and that disbarment is the appropriate discipline," the Supreme Court's order said.
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