More Trouble for Lawyer in Forgery Case

A Waco attorney charged with practicing law while her attorney's license was suspended and with forging a signature on a court document is under scrutiny for possible document tampering in another case, the Waco Tribune-Herald reports:

The most recent case, from three years ago, probably would have gone undetected had [defendant Deloris] Carroll, 38, not violated the terms of her felony probation for the fraudulent use of identifying information. Files from the district attorney’s office show that an initial plea recommendation from former prosecutor Charissa Sloan was scratched through and changed from serving 12 months in a state jail to 18 months in a state jail but probated for five years.

The original sentence called for no probation.

On a related note, a McLennan County blogger discusses the circumstances of Polk's attempt to turn herself in:

Even though there is supposed to be a jail magistrate setting bonds, Polk was held in jail for 10 hours. Normally, a person who has a bondsman waiting to make their bond waits less than two hours to be processed. The sheriff abused his authority to make an impression on Polk.

Why You Should Pay Your Bar Dues

You might get arrested if you don't.

Waco attorney Tammy T. Polk was arrested Wednesday morning on four charges of “falsely holding oneself out as a lawyer” while her law license reportedly was suspended [for nonpayment of State Bar of Texas dues and the state occupational tax], charges her lawyer called “disgraceful.”

Her attorney wonders why no one else gets arrested for this charge:

“It is disgraceful that they chose to do this knowing full well that there are literally thousands of lawyers who every year fail to timely pay their bar dues,” Soechting said. “My first job this afternoon is to find out how many times they have issued an arrest warrant for them. I am starting to think this looks like more than an impartial investigation.”

This isn't Polk's first time on the other side of the table--in March she was arrested on a charge of "forging the signature of a McLennan County prosecutor on a case dismissal form." In that case, a court worker noticed that the handwriting of the prosecutor's signature appeared different--and the first name was misspelled.

Interestingly, as of today (April 23, 2009), the State Bar website currently shows her as eligible to practice law in Texas. For those of us keeping score, Polk is a graduate of Baylor law school.

Hat tip: This comment thread at Grits for Breakfast.