1/16/2007 3:16:00 PM
Cops: Lawyer Naked With Teen in Court

A criminal defense lawyer was arrested after a sheriff's deputy found him naked with a 14-year-old girl in a courthouse conference room, authorities said Tuesday.

The deputy looked into the room during rounds Monday afternoon and discovered 49-year-old Larry Charles and the girl, said Lt. Dan Bagnell of the police department's Special Victims Unit.

"He had asked for sex. But there was no physical contact we're aware of," Bagnell said.

Bagnell said the girl was not a client of Charles, but their exact relationship was unclear.

Charles was charged with solicitation, attempted statutory sexual assault and related counts. He was awaiting arraignment Tuesday and bail had not yet been set. A woman who answered the phone at his office said she could not comment.

Courts were closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but the courthouse was open for attorneys who needed to conduct business in the building.

[This message was edited by JB on 01-17-07 at .]

11/22/2006 12:18:00 AM
Ex-Prosecutor Indecency Case Is Dropped

Charges against a former city prosecutor accused of public indecency were dropped Tuesday because they were improperly filed, his lawyer said.

Authorities had charged Hamilton prosecutor Scott Blauvelt after a guard monitoring a security camera saw a naked man in the county office building the night of Oct. 5.

The previous night, security video had captured Blauvelt, who has since been fired, naked in another area of the building, where city offices are located, authorities said.

Blauvelt's attorney, Mike Gmoser, said that charges were dropped because Blauvelt had been charged under a law no longer in effect, and that prosecutors have not decided whether to refile charges.

Blauvelt, 35, was suffering from a bad reaction to medication prescribed for depression and to control seizures related to a 2005 traffic accident, Gmoser said.

I would like to note for the record that neither of these events involving nakedness occurred in Williamson County, Texas.

You know why.

Is it because everything in central Texas has ice on it right now?

Attorney gets fine, probation in lewd conduct case

By CRAIG KAPITAN
Eagle Staff Writer

Attorney-client privilege only goes so far.

That might have been one of the underlying themes last Thursday when a Burleson County judge agreed to a strict misdemeanor sentence for Richard Douglas Parker.

The Houston-based attorney, 44, was arrested in 2001 after a courthouse employee noticed him receiving oral sex from his client in a 21st District Court conference room.

The act, considered lewd conduct, took place during a recess in the client�s pretrial hearing. Parker was arrested before the hearing could continue.

�This is certainly not the kind of behavior we condone,� said Burleson County attorney Joey Skrivanek, explaining that local law agencies originally looked for ways to convict Parker of a felony due to the embarrassment it caused the court.

Unfortunately, he said, there doesn�t seem to be a law on the books that would enhance the crime for taking place in a district courtroom.

�We couldn�t proceed with a felony, so this was the next best program,� he said.

Public lewdness is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

As part of the plea agreement, Parker will pay a $3,000 fine, submit to counseling as requested by the probation department and attend separate counseling recommended by the State Bar of Texas.

Judge Mike Sutherland also gave Parker a 1-year jail sentence that was immediately probated for two years.

According to Skrivanek, it is rare that a fine of more than $2,000 is handed out in the county court. Parker was also sentenced to a higher-than-average amount of community service, he said.

�[His family] will have to explain why daddy is doing something in Burleson County,� Skrivanek said of the community service requirement.

Parker, who pleaded no contest to the crime, did not return phone calls placed to his law office Wednesday afternoon. He represented himself.

According to court documents, Parker was representing 36-year-old Brigitte Suzanne Boggs in November 2001 for felony manufacturing and possession of a controlled substance.

After District Judge Harold Towslee called a short recess in the hearing, Parker asked to consult with his client in the attorneys� room, which adjoins the courtroom.

When a jail lieutenant did a routine check of the room, however, the two weren�t just consulting.

According to prosecutors, Parker indicated he had a relationship with the woman. Boggs told authorities that Parker had represented her in other cases in Harris County.

Investigators have not been able to determine if the act was part of an exchange for Parker�s legal services.

�That�s the suspicion,� Skrivanek said.

Parker has been licensed to practice law in Texas since 1989. He has never been disciplined by the State Bar before, said spokeswoman Kimberly Schmitt.

According to policy, the State Bar cannot indicate if an investigation of a lawyer has taken place until it has been completed. But according to Burleson County attorneys, one is pending.

The bar�s discipline of Parker could range from a private reprimand to disbarment.

Counseling, as outlined in the county plea agreement, will probably be part of the punishment, Skrivanek said. It will probably involve legal education with an emphasis on ethics, he said.

Well, almost Mr. Brumley. But the social mores there are such that, although there are no laws per se against nakedness, no one in Georgetown goes naked. Ever. Even in the shower.

Or so I hear from a reliable source.

As the desire to practice "law" naked takes the country by storm, we can only expect nude courthouse encounters to increase. For those offended by the site of undressed attorneys traveling the halls of our legal institutions, seeing-eye dogs are now offered as an escort!

[This message was edited by JAS on 01-18-07 at .]