Former county attorney disbarred

Former Carlton County Attorney Thom Pertler was disbarred Thursday, Sept. 10 by the Minnesota Supreme Court for professional misconduct because he failed to disclose known police misconduct when he was in office. Pertler was Carlton County Attorney January 2005 through December 2018, quitting after he lost a re-election bid.

The Supreme Court's decision came after the director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed a misconduct petition against Pertler July 6. That office is an agency of the state judicial branch that investigates ethics complaints against lawyers and, if warranted, pursues disciplinary action.

The petition and the recent court decision centered around Pertler's failure to follow through with his duties to disclose exculpatory evidence (favorable to defendants), specifically referring to misconduct by former Cloquet police officer Scott Beckman that reflected on Beckman's credibility and honesty. According to the petition, Pertler knew about Beckman's misconduct but never revealed that knowledge to any defense attorneys or even prosecuting attorneys in his own office as required by the Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland, along with the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct.

Pertler admitted to the allegations in the petition, including failure "to disclose known police misconduct which required disclosure," failure to implement a "Brady" policy in the county attorney's office, failure to disclose the information about the police misconduct to those who needed it, and failure to train the staff in his office regarding Brady requirements, leading to the dismissal of 19 pending criminal cases and the retroactive dismissal and expungement of eight cases that had resulted in conviction, including the release of one defendant who was incarcerated.

In late July, Pertler waived his right to a hearing and agreed to disbarment for committing "professional misconduct warranting public discipline." His license had already been suspended for nonpayment of fees.

In signing the stipulation for discipline, Pertler "unconditionally" admitted the allegations. He also waived his rights to have a referee (an appointed senior judge) conduct a hearing on the charges against him, or argue any of the referee's findings and conclusions before the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The Minnesota Supreme Court independently reviewed the file and approved the jointly recommended disposition this week. Pertler is also required to pay $900 in costs.

Timeline

According to the petition, Pertler was informed of Beckman's misconduct in May 2016, and received the final investigative report (prepared by an outside law firm) from Cloquet police chief Steve Stracek in early June 2016.

On June 28, 2016, Pertler acknowledged receipt of the report, and the fact that failure to comply intentionally or unintentionally to the requirements of Brady v. Maryland could lead to dismissal of a criminal case. The petition quotes Pertler's response, in which he noted that "once one defense attorney was privy to the knowledge that all of them would know shortly thereafter." Pertler also allegedly suggested in the response that he would try to resolve all pending cases with a plea agreement, but if matters were set for trial, that is "where the potential problems would most likely arise."

In the same June 2016 letter, Pertler stated he must consider the ethical obligations and duties and did not want "to be accused of practicing law in a manner that could be perceived as trying to run something through the system knowing there is potentially exculpatory information to the defendant that is constitutionally required of me to be disclosed."

Almost nine months later, on March 2, 2017, the Cloquet police chief advised Pertler that the allegations of misconduct had been sustained, and wrote that he was providing the information to Pertler "to consider related to Brady and Giglio requirements," referring to two different Supreme Court cases requiring disclosure.

Once the discipline was implemented, the petition states, disclosure by the county attorney's office was mandated in cases in which Beckman was a material witness.

According to the petition, Pertler did not advise assistant Carlton County attorneys responsible for prosecuting criminal matters of the correspondence from the Cloquet police chief or Beckman's resulting discipline.

Additionally, the county attorney's office did not have a Brady policy and Pertler did not arrange for Brady training for his staff.

Pertler did ask assistant county attorney Jeffrey Boucher to draft a Brady policy, which Boucher presented to Pertler on April 21, 2017. Pertler did not inform Boucher of the misconduct findings, nor did he implement the policy or provide direction on implementing the draft Brady policy.

According to the petition, Beckman's misconduct came to light for other attorneys in the office in May 2018, when assistant county attorney Michael Boese received a defense request for Brady information related to Beckman in connection with a felony drug case he was prosecuting. Boese told Pertler, who did not tell him of the data he had received. When Boese asked the city of Cloquet for the information, he learned that Beckman's misconduct findings had already been shared with Pertler. Boese shared that knowledge with other assistant county attorneys in the office.

In August 2018, the county attorney's office dismissed a total of 19 cases that had been charged before the attorneys knew of Beckman's misconduct issues.

According to the petition, Pertler did not seek Brady information from law enforcement agencies until Oct. 4, 2018 and still had not implemented a Brady policy for his office when he was defeated in the November 2018 election.

After losing the election, Pertler removed his personal items, stopped coming into the office, and designated Boucher acting Carlton County attorney in his absence, as his term extended until Jan. 6, 2019.

On Dec. 3, 2018, Boucher implemented a Brady disclosure policy. A week later, he advised Cloquet city administrator Aaron Reeves of the cases that had been dismissed based on Beckman's misconduct, adding that Beckman was the subject of "multiple substantiated findings of misconduct relating to dishonesty" which should be disclosed in every case involving the police officer.

After Ketola took office in January 2019, she directed a review of all cases involving Beckman. As a result, all 19 previously dismissed cases were not recharged, and eight more cases that had resulted in conviction were retroactively dismissed, including one that resulted in the release of a state prisoner.

In a Bench & Bar column on public discipline in 2019, Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility director Susan Humiston wrote: "Public discipline is imposed not to punish the attorney, but to protect the public, the profession, and the judicial system, and to deter misconduct by the attorney and others."

Pertler did not respond to a request for comment from the Pine Knot News and offered a "no comment" in August when asked about the pending case.