Lawyer charged with prostitution
Schools official accused of offering services for sex
Associated Press

ROUND ROCK - A school board member and prominent lawyer has been charged with prostitution, accused of offering legal services in exchange for sexual favors.

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Steven C. Copenhaver, 56, was released from jail Thursday on a $750 bond.

An arrest affidavit said Copenhaver offered to represent a Round Rock woman's husband if she and her sister-in-law would perform sex acts with him and each other.

"I am deeply apologetic to my family and friends," Copenhaver said in a statement Thursday. "I hope that all of them will support me during this difficult time. I intend to work through the legal process to get this behind me as soon as possible. Please keep me in your prayers."

Copenhaver, vice president of the Round Rock school board, has served 15 years during two stints on the suburban Austin board. He has practiced law in nearby Georgetown for 20 years.


Meeting at apartment
According to the warrant, Leigh Heavin of Round Rock called Copenhaver on Feb. 23 and asked if he could represent her husband in a criminal case. She told him that she did not have much money and asked if they could arrange a payment plan, according to the warrant.

Copenhaver told Heavin that they could work something out and asked her if she had any good-looking friends, according to the warrant. He told her that he had fantasized about two women having sex together, according to the warrant.

The next day, Copenhaver came to Heavin's apartment shortly after her sister-in-law, Malinda Tilley, had dropped in, the warrant said. Unknown to Copenhaver, it said, Heavin's mental health caseworker, her mother and her husband were in a back bedroom.

Copenhaver asked Tilley and Heavin to perform sexual favors for him, according to the warrant.

When the women asked "what they would get out of this," Copenhaver said he would represent Heavin's husband, the warrant said.

At that point, the caseworker � from the Bluebonnet Trails Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center � and other family members emerged and called police, according to the warrant.

John Romano, school board president, said he did not know how the arrest would affect Copenhaver's position on the seven-member board.

Dawn Miller, chief disciplinary counsel for the State Bar of Texas, said exchanging legal services for sexual favors could constitute a violation of rules barring "illegal or unconscionable" fees.

Punishment could range from a reprimand to disbarment, Miller said.

With all the witty personalities on this forum, there has to be a whole slew of puns, jabs, and quips out there...

Could you safely call this circumstance an oral contract?

That could render the intervening relatives liable for tortious interference with contract based on their act of preventing the contract from being consummated.

"Relatives Interruptus", I believe is the latin term.