About a month after he pleaded no contest to drug charges and Supreme Court justices temporarily suspended his law license, a West Virginia lawyer was caught attempting to cheat on a drug test, according to the Raleigh County chief assistant prosecutor.
Richard Hardison Jr., 48, of Charleston, was caught using a device that stores clean urine, according to Raleigh County Assistant Prosecutor Tom Truman.
West Virginia Supreme Court justices temporarily suspended Hardison's law license on Sept. 14 because of a petition filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel on June 27, according to a news release. The order says that Justice Robin Davis and Justice Margaret Workman were not involved in the decision.
Hardison pleaded guilty to drug and embezzlement charges on Sept. 15.
The petition calls Hardison a "substantial threat of irreparable harm to the public" and alleges the misappropriation of about $183,160 in client funds, along with lying to clients, abandoning clients and refusing to cooperate with the Office of Disciplinary Conduct in its investigation.
Truman said Hardison was also recorded selling cocaine from his office.
Probation officers found Hardison with the device that stores clean urine Wednesday, according to Truman. Hardison was required to take drug tests as part of his plea agreement.
Truman said that drug users use the devices, built to resemble a penis, to pass drug tests when other people, such as probation officers, are present.
Hardison was lodged in the Southern Regional Jail Thursday after his bail was revoked. David White, Hardison's attorney, did not return a call seeking comment.
Hardison, White and Truman had told Judge Robert Burnside they had reached a plea agreement on Sept. 15.
Hardison pleaded no contest to the delivery of cocaine, a felony, and conspiracy to commit a felony. He pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzlement and attempting to commit a felony, uttering. He was scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 19.
Another lawyer, Sid Bell, has already been appointed to take over his caseload.
Hardison fought the drug charges all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that recordings of his cocaine deals shouldn't be permissable because of the state's wiretapping law that protects attorney-client privilege. Raleigh County sheriff's deputies sent a confidential informant with a wire into Hardison's Beckley office to buy cocaine. Raleigh County circuit court agreed with Hardison that the audio recording was not permissible in court. In a 4-1 ruling, Supreme Court justices overturned the lower court's decision, saying the state's wiretapping and electronic surveillance act was only meant to protect attorney-client privilege.
Truman said Hardison had been charged in two drug cases, one led by the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department and one led by Beckley Police Department. In the Beckley case, he was allegedly caught on camera doing a line of cocaine and selling cocaine, and police said they found 13 ounces of cocaine in his home. Truman said that case was thrown out because the evidence custodian was dealing pills out of the evidence room.
"Thirteen ounces is more than I had ever seen in the city of Beckley, or the county of Raleigh, and I've been doing this since 1981," Truman said.
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