Opinion
May 3, 2002.
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS instituted by the Grievance Committee of the Seventh Judicial District. Respondent was admitted to the bar on February 8, 1971, at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department.
Andrea T. Burciaga, Associate Counsel, Rochester, for Seventh Judicial District Grievance Committee.
Roy Alan Brubaker, Kokomo, Indiana, respondent pro se.
Respondent was admitted to the practice of law by this Court on February 8, 1971. On December 16, 1994, he was convicted in Boone Superior Court in Lebanon, Indiana of dealing in cocaine, in violation of Indiana Code § 35-48-4-1, a class B felony, and other crimes. He was sentenced to a 10-year term of imprisonment, with four years of the sentence to be suspended. Respondent resigned from the bar of the State of Indiana and his name was stricken from the roll of attorneys by order entered April 6, 1995. Respondent failed to report his felony conviction to this Court within 30 days, as required by Judiciary Law § 90 (4) (c).
On March 13, 2002, the Grievance Committee filed a statement reporting respondent's conviction and setting forth the position that, if committed in New York, respondent's conduct would constitute criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (Penal Law § 220.16), a class B felony. Respondent filed an affidavit in response, stating that he waives his right to appear before this Court, he understands that he has been convicted of an offense that would constitute a felony in New York and he consents to the entry of an order of dibarment.
Inasmuch as respondent has been convicted of an offense that, if committed in New York, would not be classified as a felony, he is disbarred by operation of law (see Judiciary Law § 90 [a], [e]; Matter of Delany, 87 N.Y.2d 508, 512; Matter of Johnson, 75 N.Y.2d 403, 405).
PIGOTT, JR., WISNER, HURLBUTT, GORSKI and LAWTON, JJ., concur.
Order of disbarment entered.