The Shadow
The Virginia State Bar has suspended Covington attorney Mark Perdue’s license for one year.
The suspension came Friday after Perdue appeared before a Virginia State Bar disciplinary board in Richmond on four misconduct cases.
Two of the cases were dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The dismissed cases involved Facebook postings made by Perdue.
In addition to the suspension, Perdue was publicly admonished for his handling of a 2010 divorce case in Clifton Forge.
According to records obtained by the Virginia State Bar Tuesday, Perdue’s suspension centered on the filing of a petition in Alleghany County Circuit Court on behalf of Dayton Taylor. Perdue filed the petition in 2011 to have Taylor’s driving privileges restored.
On Aug. 2, 2011, Perdue represented Taylor at a circuit court hearing before Judge Malfourd W. Trumbo. Later that day, Perdue was scheduled to represent Taylor in Alleghany County General District Court in a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of driving on a suspended license.
During the circuit court hearing that morning, Trumbo determined that Taylor was eligible to have his driving privileges reinstated, but he asked Perdue if there was any other information he needed to know about the case. Perdue told him there wasn’t. Trumbo then ruled to grant the license restoration.
No one from the Alleghany County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office was in the courtroom because Perdue failed to inform them about the hearing.
In General District Court that afternoon, Perdue presented the restoration order to the presiding judge at the preliminary hearing on the felony charge against Taylor. Perdue argued that the restoration petition served as evidence that the felony charge against his client should be reduced to a misdemeanor.
Ralph Jackson, a part-time assistant for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office who normally handles juvenile and domestic cases, agreed to reduce the charge, as did the judge.
Jackson handled the case for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office because two regular assistant commonwealth’s attorneys were out of town attending a seminar.
After Commonwealth’s Attorney Ed Stein learned what had happened, he complained to Judge Trumbo. The judge vacated the restoration order and scheduled a new hearing.
Perdue later accused Stein and Judge Trumbo of collusion. Judge Trumbo subsequently recused himself from hearing the case. Stein proceeded to file a complaint against Perdue with the Bar Association.
In issuing the one-year suspension Friday, the State Bar found that Perdue failed to exercise candor toward a tribunal, failed to exercise fairness toward an opposing party and legal counsel, and failed to exercise truthfulness.
The Bar Association also admonished Perdue for his handling of a divorce case involving a client in Clifton Forge.
According to records from the Bar Association, Perdue was representing Terry Lynn Downey in 2010 during divorce proceedings. Perdue contacted Downey’s husband, Ezekiel Downey, knowing that Downey was not being represented by an attorney.
Perdue was also accused of verbally abusing a Clifton Forge police dispatcher during a phone call related to the case.
Ezekiel Downey contacted the Bar Association and filed a complaint against Perdue.
In admonishing Perdue for his handling of the case, the State Bar said he displayed misconduct, violated rules of professional conduct by dealing with a person not represented by an attorney, and failed to respect the legal rights of a third party.
One of the dismissed cases against Perdue involved a Facebook posting by Perdue in October 2011. In the posting, Perdue claimed he had dated some of the jurors in a criminal case involving one his clients in Bath County.
Perdue also claimed that some of the jurors were distant relatives.
Bath County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Singleton presented a copy of the Facebook posting to Circuit Court Judge Humes Franklin.
After Perdue admitted to Franklin that he made the posting, the judge dismissed the jury and continued the trial until December 2011.
The judge ordered Perdue to pay $800 to cover the court’s costs for the dismissed jurors.
In the other dismissed case, Perdue sent a Facebook friend request to Maressa K. Butler, who was the wife of a man he was representing in the couple’s divorce proceedings.
Perdue made the Facebook posting in February 2012.
Maressa Butler filed a complaint against Perdue with the State Bar.
This marks the second time that Perdue’s license has been suspended by the Virginia State Bar. His license was suspended for 60 days in 2009.
He has also been publicly reprimanded by the State Bar twice — in 2008 and 2009.
Perdue has been a licensed attorney in Virginia since 1998.
His law office is located at 416 W. Locust St. in Covington.
