The West Virginia Supreme Court annulled the law license of a former Pocahontas County assistant prosecutor, who it says used his position to obtain sexual favors from women.
Jarrell L. Clifton II took advantage of three women on multiple occasions who were connected in some manner to the criminal justice system - as defendants, clients or on probation - in matters over which Clifton had some degree of control as prosecutor, an opinion filed Wednesday states.
Justice Brent Benjamin wrote for the court that annulment is necessary "to protect the public, to reassure the public as to the reliability and integrity of attorneys, and to safeguard the interest in the administration of justice."
After the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed charges against Clifton, a hearing panel recommended that justices suspend Clifton's law license for two years.
Both attorneys with the ODC and Clifton disagreed with that recommendation.
The ODC argued the recommendation wasn't severe enough and that Clifton's law license should be annulled.
Clifton's attorneys, Mark McMillian and Erin Snyder, argued the recommended punishment was too severe. They suggested Clifton be publicly reprimanded and required to continue counseling or therapy, complete legal education on ethics, have his law practice monitored, or, if justices find it necessary, a "reasonable" suspension should be imposed.
Justices, though, found that Clifton's "intentional and repeated violations" of the rules lawyers are required to abide by "warrant the annulment of his law license in the State of West Virginia."
Before starting law school in 2004, Clifton worked for Child Protective Services, operated a bar and restaurant and worked as a police officer, all in Marlinton, where he still lives, the opinion states.
He worked as an assistant prosecutor in Pocahontas County from November 2007 until Jan. 15, 2011, when he left to work in private practice.
In August 2012, a criminal investigation of a police officer in Marlinton led State Police and members of the FBI to investigate Clifton, according to the opinion.
He was indicted by a Pocahontas grand jury on two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of "imposition of sexual intercourse on an incarcerated person," the opinion states.
Clifton reported the indictment to the ODC and they opened a complaint.
The criminal charges were dismissed against Clifton in January 2013, with prejudice, meaning they can't be refiled.
Attorneys with the ODC obtained files from the criminal investigation into Clifton and identified three women who engaged in sexual conduct with Clifton in his office while he was assistant prosecutor.
The ODC contended that while Clifton's conduct might not have been criminal, it was unethical and violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys. It filed ethics charges against Clifton in November 2013.
A hearing was held before a panel last year where Clifton and several witnesses testified.
One woman, identified in the opinion only as T.S., was on probation and participating in the Pocahontas County Day Report program after pleading guilty to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, when Clifton sent her a message on Facebook.
They began corresponding and eventually the woman told Clifton that she didn't want to have to take part in the Day Report program. Clifton, according to the opinion, told her to stop by his office sometime and see if he could possibly help.
The woman told the ODC she visited Clifton's office three or four times over the summer of 2010. She stated he would ask to take nude photos of her and also asked her to perform oral sex on him.
"I mean I didn't want to go to jail, so, you know, I went back and, you know, the third time, I think I started to give him oral sex," she told the ODC, according to the opinion.
A criminal investigation into Clifton began when the woman made allegations that the relationship with Clifton wasn't consensual.
Charges were dismissed, though, after police determined the relationship to be consensual, according to the opinion.
Another woman who had a sexual relationship with Clifton in the mid-1990s while she worked for him at a bar he owned, also testified during the hearing.
In 2009, while the woman's son was facing a charge for brandishing, she ran into Clifton at a grocery store and asked for advice about her son. Clifton invited her to his office to discuss the case, the opinion states.
According to the woman, identified as K.M., the opinion states, when she went to Clifton's office, they discussed her son's case, but then Clifton asked her to touch his penis.
She testified that she did as he asked because she was afraid if she didn't, her son would go to prison, according to the opinion. Her son's case was eventually dismissed upon a motion filed by Clifton.
Another woman identified as L.B. testified that in 2009 she was the victim of a theft and that she asked Clifton what she should do about it. She and Clifton had had a sexual relationship before he attended law school, according to the opinion.
She visited Clifton at his prosecutor's office and he told her to call the police and have any witnesses to the theft write statements. The conversation then turned sexual and she performed oral sex on him, she testified, the complaint states.
L.B. also testified that Clifton mentioned seeing her breasts while she was involved in a case of domestic violence, and that when she was later charged with destruction of property for allegedly breaking her boyfriend's car's windshield, it was Clifton who ultimately signed off on dismissing the case against her.
She testified that she engaged in oral sex with Clifton in his courthouse office one or two more times, according to the opinion.
"The amount of real injury in this case is great," Benjamin wrote. "As the [hearing panel] aptly surmised, it is not likely that the women who made the allegations against Mr. Clifton will be trusting of lawyers and the legal system in the future.
"By using his position as assistant prosecuting attorney to elicit sexual behavior from vulnerable women - women involved in criminal matters and/or seeking his help - he has damaged the prosecutor's office in Pocahontas County and the legal profession as a whole."
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.