Missouri Supreme Court suspends lawyer who referred to a federal judge by a racial slur

The Missouri Supreme Court earlier this week suspended a West Plains attorney who called a federal judge a racial slur after the judge ruled against his client.

According to a disciplinary order announced Tuesday, Jason Henry "is hereby suspended indefinitely from the practice of law" and "no petition for reinstatement will be entertained for a period of one year from the date of this order" for his comments about Senior U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr., who presides in the Western District of Missouri.

The court found that Henry violated two rules of legal conduct, that of making "a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity" about a judge and that of manifesting racial bias.

Court documents provide the following account:

In September 2014, Gaitan denied a petition for writ of habeas corpus filed by Henry on behalf of an imprisoned client.

Ten days later, Henry sent his client's wife an email in which he referred to Gaitan as "that puppet n----- Giaten," invoking a racial slur and misspelling the judge's name.

"I used to be very racial, but I am not so anymore, but know (sic) and again, I must call a spade a spade," Henry wrote, also referring to Gaitan as a "son of a bitch" and describing the judge's opinion as "bull----."

He also referred to former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. as an "idiot" for Price's authorship of an earlier opinion regarding when certain prison inmates are eligible for release.

Gaitan received a letter about a month later from Henry's client, with Henry's email attached, that complained of "unethical behavior" by Henry. The judge then filed an ethics complaint — including the email — with the state's Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, an arm of the Missouri Supreme Court that investigates allegations of attorney misconduct.

Investigators asked Henry to respond to the allegations, and the West Plains attorney did so, referring to his own remarks as "horrible."

"The language was insulting to Judge Gaitan and I am very sorry for it," Henry wrote. "I have no excuse and I have expressed my sincere apology to Judge Gaitan for my actions. All I can do is apologize and I have done so to my best ability."

But investigators wrote that Henry's behavior at a disciplinary hearing in February 2016 "cast doubt on the veracity of (Henry's) remorse."

Prior to the hearing, Henry sent "increasingly agitated and angry" emails to Susan Applequist, presiding officer of the disciplinary hearing panel, and left voicemails with Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel, accusing Pratzel of "'being out to get him' and wanting 'to cut my nuts,'" investigators wrote.

Henry was told prior to the hearing that investigators would recommend he be disbarred.

At the hearing, Henry admitted he did not know Gaitan's ethnicity but was aware that "n-----" was a term used to disparage black people. He was also to explain what he meant by "puppet n-----."

"It was a derogatory remark. Puppet, I think I’ve explained that, someone who defers to what a lower court has done or what a body does," Henry said at the hearing. "There was no excuse for me using the word 'n-----.' And I’m not going to sit here and — I’ve apologized for that. I guess I used it because I was upset about the opinion."

Henry said at the hearing that the matter had "caused me a lot of hurt" and said he had heard attorneys say worse words than "idiot" in reference to a judge, investigators wrote.

Henry also criticized investigators, saying, "I really have a fundamental problem with this case, and I have a fundamental problem with people who get a kick out of taking other people's information and using it as a way to explore their whole life and everything about it and to put it right here on the table."

In March, two members of the disciplinary hearing panel recommended that Henry be suspended indefinitely with no reinstatement possible for a year. Another panel member thought Henry should be disbarred.

Both Henry and the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel rejected the panel's findings. Henry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.