Attorney Slaps defendant in front of judge.

10/13/11

The Supreme Court of South Carolina suspended the license of attorney Richard M. Lovelace Jr. and ordered him to take an anger management course for slapping a defendant in the middle of their trial.

In April of 2008, Lovelace got angry with the defendant when he thought that the defendant was “not speaking respectfully”. In his anger, Lovelace started pointing his finger at the defendant who stood up and told Lovelace to stop pointing. Lovelace then decided to respond to that comment by slapping the defendant in the face. Afterwards, Lovelace reported what had happened to a disciplinary counsel on his own. The court ended up suspending his license to practice law for 90 days after he pleaded no contest to simple assault. Lovelace agreed to the punishment and the anger management classes.
Perhaps this attorney should have assessed the situation a little more and adjusted his expectations. He could have realized that although it would have been nice if he had been more respectful, it isn’t entirely realistic that a defendant will want to act friendly with an opposing lawyer. (Why would they?) So, he would have expected the disrespectful manner of the defendant and could have controlled his own anger in better ways.

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