In re Justin Alan Torres

Summary

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals adopted the Board on Professional Responsibility’s recommendation to disbar Justin Alan Torres after his convictions for multiple felony counts of gross sexual imposition under Ohio law. The court held that the Ohio offense constituted a crime of moral turpitude per se and ordered disbarment nunc pro tunc to June 27, 2019.

Holdings

1. The offense is a crime of moral turpitude per se because the statute criminalizes sexual contact with a child at least four years younger than the age of consent, an age gap that forecloses a reasonable mistake about the child's ability to consent, and the conduct offends generally accepted moral standards.
2. Disbarment is the appropriate sanction for respondent's conviction of a crime of moral turpitude per se.

Questions Presented

1. Whether gross sexual imposition under Ohio Revised Code § 2907.05(A)(1) is a crime of moral turpitude per se under D.C. Code § 11-2503(a).
2. Whether disbarment is the appropriate sanction for an attorney convicted of a crime of moral turpitude per se.

Disposition

other