A Los Angeles attorney now faces a second round of misconduct counts accusing him of charging inmates thousands of dollars for resentencing requests under a 2018 state law, even though authorities told him such applications were ill-advised.
The State Bar of California filed 18 additional disciplinary charges against attorney Aaron Spolin on Nov. 14, accusing him of professional misconduct by misleading inmates and their families about the prospects for earlier prison release as a result of the state’s resentencing-relief program outlined in Assembly Bill 2942.
The most recent Notice of Disciplinary Charges (NDC) comes in the wake of the State Bar filing 18 similar charges on Aug. 26. The State Bar said in an advisory that it will consolidate all 36 charges during a future trial.
Prior to the enactment of AB 2942, the only officials who could recommend prisoner resentencing were the secretary of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the Board of Parole Hearings in cases involving state prison inmates or county correctional administrators, in cases on behalf of county jail inmates.
Under the 2018 law, county district attorneys can recommend that a court hold a resentencing hearing.
The State Bar alleges in its latest notice against Spolin that in 2021, the attorney received nine letters from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office advising him that resentencing requests made on behalf of criminal defendants would not yet be pursued since the office at that time was establishing a new unit to review such cases.
The District Attorney’s website later advised that lawyers cannot initiate or accelerate an individual’s resentencing case. And District Attorney George Gascón’s administration eventually provided six criteria that would be prioritized in such cases involving adults: The inmate should be at least 50 years old; the sentence should span at least two decades; time served should be a minimum of 10 years; the sentence is for a non-serious or nonviolent crime; there are no serious prior convictions; and the inmate is not a sex offender.
Even though Spolin received at least nine letters from the District Attorney’s Office saying the applications were not necessary, the attorney subsequently billed four more clients and their families for submitting resentencing applications to county prosecutors, according to the State Bar.
“These additional charges allege that Mr. Spolin misled more prisoners and their families by withholding critical information in order to persuade them to pay for legal services that provided them no relief,” the State Bar’s chief trial counsel, George Cardona, said in a statement emailed to the Southern California Record.
In one of the latest charges filed, Spolin is accused of charging an inmate and his fiancé $21,700 for a case review and resentencing request under the 2018 law – even though the inmate had been sentenced to 41 years in prison for violent felonies. The inmate’s situation was not in line with the county office’s criteria for a request for commutation, according to the State Bar.
It’s unclear, however, how closely Gascón’s office has followed its stated criteria. Last month, the District Attorney’s Office said it would recommend resentencing for Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, who have been incarcerated for 35 years for the murders of their parents. That case is at odds with the office’s emphasis on nonviolent crimes when sentencing is under consideration.
Spolin’s attorney, Erin Joyce, said previously that the attorney was cooperating with the State Bar and hoped to resolve the matter “in the near future.” Spolin’s law license is still active, according to the State Bar’s website.