An appellate panel has upheld the 12-month suspension of Dallas criminal defense lawyer David Finn from practicing in the Northern District of Texas “after several instances of inappropriate behavior and twice failing to show up for a client’s sentencing hearing, mostly due to a problem with substance abuse.”
In an eight-page opinion, three judges of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a March 2022 decision by U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn, then chief judge in the Northern District, to convene a three-judge panel to review Finn’s conduct. Judge Lynn’s order also immediately suspended him from practicing in the district, as “emergency relief.” (On May 11, 2022, Judge Lynn relaxed her order, allowing Finn to appear before the court provided he had co-counsel.)
“What prompted Judge Lynn’s order,” the appellate panel wrote, “was that Finn had twice failed to appear for a sentencing of his client without notifying the court or client, and he was unreachable both before and after the second missed hearing. Finn quickly explained that he had a problem with substance abuse and that he had checked himself into a rehab/detox center the day of the hearing.” (Elsewhere, the panel’s opinion refers to Finn’s “alcohol abuse.”)
Finn told The Texas Lawbook he’s been sober since voluntarily checking himself into a rehab/detox center in March 2022 — the day he missed his client’s second scheduled sentencing hearing before Judge Lynn.
“I have never felt better in my entire life,” he said. “I am the luckiest person on the face of the Earth. Jesus saved my ass. I’m a sinner, I sinned, and I’ve paid the price.”
He added, “Jesus taught us to love our enemies. Judge Lynn is in my morning prayers and my night prayers every day.”
According to the appellate opinion, a 74-page investigative report prepared for the disciplinary panel convened by Judge Lynn — comprising U.S. District Judges David Godbey, Sam Lindsay, and Mark Pittman — found that Finn not only engaged in misconduct by failing to appear at his client’s sentencing but also by “his disrespectful statements and conduct toward several judges and court staff” in the Northern District.
Among the examples cited in the opinion:
- “Finn interrupted and was rude toward Magistrate Judge Rene Tolliver, including telling her to ‘watch yourself.’
- “Finn was disruptive in a plea hearing before Magistrate Judge Irma Ramirez, and it was obvious that his client had not seen the indictment before the plea.
- “Finn was ‘clearly intoxicated’ in an appearance before Judge Ada Brown, and he made an inappropriate race-based joke, used a swear word, and said she was ‘not qualified’ to preside over the matter at hand. …
- “Finn was not dressed professionally in an appearance with Judge Karen Gren Scholer and put on a jacket and tie only after some ‘pushback.’
- “Finn massaged a female court security officer’s shoulders and grabbed her knee, and when she told him not to, he tried again anyway. He also offensively touched another CSO [court security officer] and pretended to ‘swat the backside’ of a female probation officer.
- “Finn was intoxicated and got belligerent with a CSO, resisted his instructions, and said to him, ‘I’m Irish, a boxer, and do I look afraid of you.”
On Oct. 25, 2022, the disciplinary panel indefinitely suspended Finn from practicing in the Northern District, but, the appellate opinion said, “permitted him to reapply to resume his practice ‘after one year of suspension’ so long as he submitted ‘evidence of continued sobriety during the period of suspension as well as an assessment by a duly licensed psychiatrist or psychologist reflecting that Mr. Finn is fit to practice law.’”
In appealing to the Fifth Circuit, Finn did “not contest that his conduct was sanctionable,” the opinion said.
Rather, he argued, first, that Judge Lynn erred in sending his case to a three-judge disciplinary panel because the rules in the Northern District authorize “any presiding judge” to discipline lawyers; and, second, that a one-year suspension was excessive.
In rejecting his appeal, the panel noted that in June 2020 — nearly two years before Judge Lynn initiated formal action against Finn — “an informal panel of judges privately reprimanded him” for his conduct.
“That lesser sanction did not work,” the appellate judges wrote.
The website of the State Bar of Texas shows no history of public disciplinary action against Finn.
The case number is 22-11092