69 N.Y.S. 524 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1901
Lead Opinion
A very thorough examination of the testimony before the referee has led me to the'- conclusion that the charges áre fully sustained. No one can read this testimony, with the explanation given by the person against whom the charges are made, without being convinced that the testimony of the two witnesses, McDonnell and Langstaff, given on the trial of the action, was false; that the respondent knew
It is unnecessary to go over this testimony in detail. It is enough to say that we are fully satisfied with the conclusion to which the referee arrived.
The learned counsel for the respondent insists most strenuously, in his argument before us, that as the public. press have detailed many attempts of the agents of this railroad company to' commit similar crimes to that alleged against the respondent, this, in some way, should palliate the respondent’s offense, We are not engaged in this.proceeding in protecting the rights of the Metropolitan Railroad Company. This respondent, an officer of the court, who has accepted the responsibility and obligations of an attorney of this court, is before- us, charged with a most serious offense, not only against the rules and ethics of his profession, but against the criminal law of the State, for his own pecuniary advantage. We realize perfectly the rule •—■ and should be disposed to enforce it in this case — that this respondent should not be convicted of these charges solely upon the uncorroborated evidence of the two witnesses who now testify that at his procurement they swore falsely upon the trial of the action of Nugent v. Metropolitan Street Railway Company, but we think the testimony of these witnesses was amply corroborated by sufficient and credible evidence. It is true that Peorchia was to some extent an accomplice of the respondent in procuring this false testimony. He was, however, an Italian, without much education, and he took but little part in inducing the witnesses to
The respondent also relies upon the minor contradictions that appear in the cross-examination of these witnesses and the stories told by them; but, when we remember the character of the witnesses, the fact of their inferior mental development and their inexperience in proceedings of this kind, it is rather surprising that they stood the severe cross-examination to which they were subjected as well as they did.
There are several rulings upon evidence to which the respondent objects, but we do not find that in any of them there was error. The testimony of McDonnell and Langstaff taken before a former referee in an action to set aside the judgment in the Nugent case was admitted by the referee, but only after a large part of this evidence had been read by respondent upon the cross-examination of these two witnesses, and it certainly was not improper for him to allow the evidence that they actually gave to be introduced so as to have it before him in determining whether that testimony before the former referee was contradicted by the testimony upon the present hearing. Nothing appears to show that the referee used
The application should, therefore, be granted and .the respondent disbarred.
Van Brunt, P. J.-, Patterson and McLaughlin, JJ., concurred.
Concurrence Opinion
I concur. The evidence shows that the respondent is absolutely unworthy of credit, and is in no respect to be believed under oath. When he desired to be admitted to the bar, he swore falsely that he was^ a resident of Brooklyn, and when he desired to bring an action in Queeno county he swore that he was a resident of that county, whereas during all that time he resided in Few York. These facts admitted by him are alone sufficient to justify his disbarment.
Application granted and respondent disbarred.