In re the Proceedings for the Disbarment of Mills

Citations

• 104 Wash. 278

Syllabus

<p>Attorney and Client (7-1) — Disbarment-—Grounds-—Criminal Offenses — Blackmail. An attorney of mature years and long experience should be disbarred where it appears that, having been fully informed of, and having given advice as to, a blackmail scheme, he assisted therein by delivering the blackmailing message, having knowledge, or ample means of reading and acquiring knowledge, of its contents before delivery.</p> <p>Threats —■ Blackmail — Acts Constituting — Accessories. An attorney who advises as to and delivers papers intended to extort a settlement of a dispute and the purchase of stock through accusations of crime and threats of publication of alleged events and incidents of the recipient’s life, having knowledge or reasonable grounds of belief as to, and full opportunity to ascertain, its contents before delivery, is guilty of blackmail, under Rem. Code, § 2613, including within the definition of blackmail an accusation of crime with intent to extort or gain any money or property or affect any cause of action or defense, and Id., § 2007, abolishing the distinction between an accessory before the fact and a principal and making aiders and abettors liable as principals.</p>