Court reinstates license of attorney whose drinking delayed client’s trial
The Iowa Judicial Branch's mission is to provide independent and accessible forums for fair and prompt resolution of disputes, administering justice equally to all persons. (Gavel photo by Getty Images; seal courtesy the State of Iowa)
The Iowa Supreme Court has reinstated the license of an attorney who showed up at the courthouse intoxicated, was convicted of vandalizing a vehicle and committed other ethical violations.
Court records indicate that in June 2023, Jennifer Jo Weaver of Marshalltown, then known as Jennifer Jo Frese, was representing Cesar Ventura in a Tama County criminal trial on a charge of interference with official acts for resisting arrest in a domestic violence case.
The Attorney Disciplinary Board would later allege that on an evening during the week in which the trial was underway, Weaver “intentionally consumed alcohol” to such an extent that she was intoxicated the next morning when she appeared at the courthouse.
According to an affidavit she later filed with the court, Weaver’s blood-alcohol level that morning was .079 – just within the .08 legal limit for driving.
As a result of Weaver’s condition, the trial was temporarily suspended. According to the board, her actions showed “disrespect for the law and the judicial system” and were part of a “pattern of criminal conduct.
The board alleged Weaver then “lied to her client and his family regarding the cause of the delay in the proceedings,” telling them she had a sick child, and “even requested the court join in her deception” by providing a false explanation for the delay to the jury, which the court refused to do.
Also in June 2023, Weaver was charged with 5th degree criminal mischief for allegedly uprooting flowers from a pot at an undisclosed office building in Marshalltown. The charge was later dismissed.
The board also cited Weaver for ethics violations related to her July 2023 arrest and eventual conviction on a charge of 3rd degree criminal mischief. In that case, police alleged Weaver caused $2,7000 worth of damage to the truck of her former husband and law partner shortly after she moved her belongings out of the office
In August 2023, Weaver was charged with third-degree harassment after being accused of sending several text messages and photos to an individual’s personal cell phone. According to police, the messages – which are not described in the police report – were “intended to cause the victim both annoyance and alarm.” The harassment charge was later dismissed.
The Attorney Disciplinary Board also accused Weaver of a conflict of interest for representing a man in a child custody battle while her law partner at the time represented her client’s adversary in the proceedings.
In August 2023, Weaver consented to the indefinite suspension of her law license based on a disability. In March of this year, with that suspension still in effect, the board recommended the court suspend Weaver’s license for a period of no more than 30 days based on the alleged ethics violations, which the court did on April 9.
On May 14, the court lifted the 30-day suspension tied to the ethics violations, but added that the disability-related suspension of August 2023 would remain in effect until further order of the court. On June 6, the court lifted the August 2023 suspension, reinstating Weaver’s license.
Other Iowa attorneys who have recently faced charges from the Attorney Disciplinary Board include:
— Joel E. Fenton of Des Moines, who is facing a possible 90-day suspension of his license. Court records indicate that in 2002, six years after he was licensed to practice in Iowa, the Iowa Supreme Court placed Fenton’s license on a disability suspension.
Ten years later his license was reinstated, but in 2017 he was issued a private admonishment for ethics violations. In 2020, the Iowa Supreme Court suspended Fenton’s license for 60 days due to neglect of client matters.
In 2022, after additional misconduct was alleged, Fenton entered into an agreement with the Attorney Disciplinary Board in which any further discipline was deferred based on Fenton’s promise of compliance with ethics rules over the next year. As part of that agreement, Fenton acknowledged having repeatedly failed to respond to two clients’ inquiries as to their workers’ compensation cases.
Soon after the deferral agreement was reached, the board learned that Fenton had failed to meet court-imposed deadlines and failed to appear as required for all scheduled trials, hearings and other court proceedings. The board alleged that in 2023 Fenton failed to appear in court on numerous occasions where he represented clients in both state and federal criminal cases.
In recommending a 90-day suspension of Fenton’s license, the commission noted that “Fenton failed to attend five hearings, missed seven filing deadlines and did not progress cases for at least five clients over several months … In several instances, these were incarcerated individuals who already have limited access to their case and counsel.”
According to the commission, Fenton has informed the panel that he voluntarily suspended his practice early this year and is seeking diagnosis and treatment for attention deficit disorder. The court has yet to act on the commission’s recommendation.
— Carl F. Stiefel II of Victor, who recently consented to a 30-day suspension of his law license. In an affidavit filed with the court, Stiefel acknowledged that as attorney and executor of a probate case involving a relative, he failed to take action to disburse more than $400,000 in proceeds from the estate.
Stiefel is one of three family members who are beneficiaries in the case.
“I still have not distributed the assets remaining in the estate,” Stiefel told the court last month, which was 15 years after the probate case was first opened, seven years after the court ordered him to take action, and six years after he received a public reprimand for his handling of the case. The court recently imposed the agreed-upon 30-day suspension.
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