As Cheryl Baswell-Guthrie is scheduled for her first court appearance Wednesday, the Huntsville attorney and former congressional candidate has another issue beyond the first-degree theft charge she's facing.
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| Cheryl Baswell-Guthrie |
Details, however, are still sketchy on the case. Baswell-Guthrie has been charged with first-degree theft for stealing $50,000 from a victim from the Shoals area. But the Alabama Securities Commission, which sought the warrant for her arrest, declined Friday to shed more light on the case beyond the affidavit filed by the victim.
But the suspension of Baswell-Guthrie's law license perhaps provides some insight.
McLain said the bar sought an "interim suspension" for Baswell-Guthrie, which he said was a "more expedited method" of suspended a law license.
"In situations where it appears a lawyer may be creating a risk of harm to the public or their client, in general anything that's tied to trust account, trust, money issues, that generally is a pretty big red flag for us to take some immediate action to pull that lawyer's license," McLain said.
"In conjunction with the suspension, we also get a restraining order that prohibits (Baswell-Guthrie) from maintaining a trust account. They have a right to have a due process hearing to dissolve the restraining order. She has not done that."
The suspension, McLain said, does not rise to the level of being disbarred. Typically, disbarments last five years. But Baswell-Guthrie's case could be reviewed as she proceeds through the judicial process, McLain said.
Baswell-Guthrie has retained Birmingham attorneys Richard Jaffe and Michael Whisonant to defend her in the case. Jaffe declined to comment on the case Friday.
Baswell-Guthrie, who ran for Congress in 2008, was arrested as a fugitive from justice Sept. 1 at a Detroit-area airport. She was extradited to the Madison County Jail on Sept. 19 and released on a $5,000 bond the next day.
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