Ex-Prosecutor Faces Panel on Ethics Charges

G. Paul Howes tried more than a few big cases as a federal prosecutor in the District during the late 1980s and early '90s.

Now, more than a decade after leaving the U.S. attorney's office for private practice, he faces what could be his biggest trial: his own.

Charged with ethics violations stemming from his conduct in two drug-and-murder conspiracy cases, Howes is to appear today before a D.C. disciplinary panel that could recommend his disbarment in the District.

A confidential Justice Department investigation, completed in 1998, found that Howes flagrantly abused the stipend system for witnesses, signing off on tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized payments to witnesses and, even more significantly, to their friends and families.

Witnesses routinely are paid stipends when they go to court to testify or when they meet with prosecutors to prepare for the proceedings. But the payments must be disclosed to defense attorneys so informed assessments can be made of the witnesses' credibility. And relatives and friends who are not bona fide witnesses cannot be paid.

At the time of the cases that came under scrutiny, a witness in a federal case would have received a voucher for $40 for each day of service. In its charging documents, the D.C. Office of Bar Counsel cites questionable payments totaling more than $75,000 from among the nearly $141,000 in voucher payments issued in the cases.

The cases were the kind on which reputations can be made. In one, a D.C. police officer was charged with conspiring with a drug gang to kill its rivals, and in the other, members of the notorious Newton Street Crew were charged with running a criminal enterprise that was engaged in murder and narcotics distribution.

In each of the cases, Howes kept the defendants' lawyers in the dark about the unauthorized payments. His motivation remains unclear.

But the fallout was far-reaching. In the years after the abuses came to light, the U.S. attorney's office had to agree to significant reductions in the sentences of several defendants, including some who had been serving life prison terms. At least three defendants were released within months of the reductions.

No criminal charges were brought against Howes, however, and the Justice Department found no indication that he was acting for personal gain.

In 2002 -- four years after completing its investigation -- the Justice Department referred the matter to the bar counsel. That office investigates allegations of ethical misconduct by lawyers licensed in the District.

It wasn't until February that the bar counsel filed charges against Howes, now a partner at Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins in San Diego. Howes is accused of making a false statement, making an illegal inducement to a witness, failing to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence, committing a criminal act and other offenses.