On Friday, October 28, 2022, the Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio filed charges for attorney discipline against Bucyrus attorney Adam Charles Stone, Esq. alleging misconduct.
The case, titled Disciplinary Counsel v. Adam Charles Stone, is filed before the Board of Professional Conduct under case no. 2022-042.
The charges cited violations of Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct Rules 8.4(c), 8.4(d), and 8.4(h), which state:
A lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation
A lawyer shall not engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice; and
A lawyer shall not engage in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness to practice law
The Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct can be found here.
The following are as alleged and summarized from the Complaint:
On December 28, 2016, Dan Straker and Mindy Straker (the Strakers) hired the Respondent on a contingency basis to represent them in a wrongful death suit seeking to prove that their son, Brandon, was murdered by his wife, Leslee Fritz Baxter. Respondent also represented the Strakers in two separate probate cases. While, respondent’s associate, Sarah Walter, represented the Srtakers in their grandparent’s rights case. Respondent allegedly engaged in misconduct by repeatedly and intentionally having made false statements to the Strakers regarding the wrongful death suit.
The Complaint states:
“Beginning in 2019, respondent began telling the Strakers that he would attempt to convince the Ohio Attorney General Office’s to prosecute Leslee for murdering Brandon.
Based on all of respondent’s misrepresentations, the Strakersfully believed that the Ohio Attorney General had all their evidence and was reviewing it to determine whether Lesleeshould be indicted for murdering Brandon.”
The Complaint continues:
“On January 25, 2022, Mindy contacted Kinsler to figure out what was happening with Brandon’s case.
. . . Kinsler is the Assistant Section Chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit, and one of his jobs is to screen cases to determine whether the Ohio Attorney General’s Office will investigate and prosecute the matter.
Kinsler told Mindy that he never heard of Brandon’s case.
To confirm, he checked his office’s case management system, and no such case existed.”
The Complaint further alleges:
“On January 26, 2022, at 3:29 p.m., respondent pretended to orchestrate a three-way phone call between Mindy, Dan, and respondent. He claimed Kinsler was on the line,then fabricated several hard to hear and dropped calls.
Kinsler was never involved with these phone calls.”
By these acts, the Disciplinary Counsel requests that respondent be found in violation of the above-cited rules of professional conduct and be sanctioned accordingly.
Mr. Adam Charles Stone has been licensed in Ohio, license no. 0085414.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
