Calif. Lawyer Gets 6 Months for Planting Drugs in PTA Mom's Car
At Greedy Associates, we love it when lawyers behave badly, whether it's a history of torture porn or dressing up like Thomas Jefferson to defend themselves from ineffective assistance claims. But an attorney "conspiring with his (attorney) wife to frame a school volunteer by planting drugs in her car," as the Orange County Register described it, is a new experience for us.
Kent and Jill Easter were both lawyers in Irvine, California, located in one of the state's Republican strongholds, Orange County. Apparently, a school volunteer, Kelli Peters, briefly left the Easters' son alone at school. The Easters also misinterpreted the volunteer's comment about the son being "slow to line up" as a comment on his intelligence.
OK, no big deal, right?
The Vengeance Factor
To Kent and Jill, it was. Naturally, the OC Register reports, the couple "went together to Peters' house in the middle of the night and planted Vicodin, Percocet, marijuana and a pipe in her unlocked car." You know, like you do. (This also brings up a good point: Always lock your car! You never know who could be trying to plant drugs in it.) Kent called the police from a hotel phone and told them Peters had been driving erratically.
After her arrest, Peters kept insisting she was innocent, and when police asked her who might want to set her up, she immediately thought of the Easters (what a reputation to have). Jill (who wasn't a practicing attorney anymore, as she became a crime-fiction novelist) pleaded guilty to false imprisonment by fraud and deceit, receiving 120 days in jail and 100 hours of community service. Kent decided he would go to trial -- with a bulletproof defense.
Your Cheating Heart
Jill was cheating on him with a firefighter, Kent Easter said, so he went through with the second half of the charade, calling the police to report Peters' erratic driving, to try and win Jill back. Of course, Kent claimed that at the time, he knew nothing about drugs being planted in the car (that was all Jill's work). Did we mention that Kent used a fake Indian accent when he called the police? Comedy gold.
At least one juror bought that story, because the jury couldn't reach a verdict at his trial in November, when exactly one juror wouldn't vote to convict him. Last month, however, jurors took only an hour to convict Kent Easter of conspiring with his wife to plant the drugs.
On Friday, Kent was sentenced to six months in jail (with 76 days already served), three years' probation, and 100 hours of community service, OC Weekly reports. Reminds me of the old Klingon proverb: "Revenge is a dish best served with Percocet."
Related Resources:
- Attorney Convicted in Drug Scheme Against PTA Volunteer (Los Angeles Times)
- Shame on Seamus? Pa. Justice McCaffery Apologizes for Porn Emails (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- 5 Lessons From the Lawyer Suspended for Fake Pics With Celebrities (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)