| ► Caroline County, VA Attorney Tony Spencer; Today’s Public Official Misfit |
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Caroline County, VA Attorney Tony Spencer; Today’s Public Official Misfit  The Virginia State Bar found Tony guilty of the following misconduct.
As a consequence of his misconduct, the apologists for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Virginia Supreme Court punished Tony by gifting him with a complimentary reprimand.
Tony represented the state in the trial of a former Caroline sheriff’s deputy Clyde Davenport in a child-abuse case. John LaFratta was the attorney representing Davenport. In his closing statement to the jury, LaFratta, he told the jury the scales of justice favored the state.
LaFratta then said, “Look at all the resources that have been at the disposal of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office” that has investigated this case, LaFratta said after naming about 10 witnesses or experts who testified on behalf of the prosecution. “And then I look at my table and I see what’s been afforded Mr. Davenport—just me, a couple of law books, a couple of brown binders jam-packed full of papers. And I thought that seems a little unfair.”
In his rebuttal to LaFratta, Spencer told the jury that, “Mr. LaFratta would have you believe that he has no one working in his office. [That] he doesn’t have a secretary, a paralegal, and a partner that he works with. He would have you believe that somehow he’s working out of his bedroom and he has these two books that he brings with him. I assure you that this is not the case.”
Shortly after the trial, LaFratta filed a bar complaint against Tony, accusing him of misrepresenting (lying) about his level of administrative office support to the jury.
Before responding to LaFratta’s complaint, Tony told Bar investigators that he needed to investigate whether LaFratta made a false statement.
At the time, a woman working as a paralegal in Tony’s office was also taking paralegal classes at J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College. Tony asked the paralegal to find another student who would be willing to conduct a survey on the number of attorneys in LaFratta’s office, the number of administrative support personnel and the duties they performed.
When no other student was willing to do the survey, Tony asked the paralegal to do it. Tony instructed the paralegal to not identify herself as an employee of his office.
In short, Tony knowingly and willing ordered a subordinate to misrepresent her status in order that he could attempt to perform an investigation of Mr. LaFratta.
As we speak, (ca. May 2013), Tony continues to be employed with the Caroline Caroline Attorney’s office in Bowling Green, Virginia.
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