Quincy attorney found guilty of witness tampering

EPHRATA — A Quincy attorney was found guilty of witness tampering in Grant County Superior Court after a three-day trial.

A jury found Mark Stansfield, 56, guilty of two counts of tampering with a witness, after listening to two days of testimony last week.

Sentencing has not been scheduled yet.

The charges revolve around a December 2006 Grant County District Court trial, where a man was charged with driving under the influence, hit and run and negligent driving. One of the prosecutor’s witnesses was the man’s girlfriend, Lona Richard, Washington state Assistant Attorney General John Hillman said during the trial.

While Richard was initially willing to testify her boyfriend was driving the car before it collided, Stansfield contacted her to tell her not to come to court, Hillman said. When a warrant was issued and police were sent to her home, Stansfield called her again and warned her, telling her to avoid police.

 Hillman said, in an interview, he was happy with the verdict, adding he didn’t think what Stansfield did was representative of most attorneys.

“I think the verdict speaks for itself,” he said “Ninety-nine percent of attorneys are ethical attorneys … but, clearly, if you do (tamper with a witness) and you get caught you’re going to be prosecuted,” Hillman said.

John Henry Browne, Stansfield’s attorney, said he was disappointed with the verdict, adding he plans to appeal the decision and put a motion in for a new trial.

“I think there are some really strong appellate issues, which I don’t usually say,” he said. “I consider Mark a good client and a good friend, so what I think is said is ultimately if his conviction is affirmed by the appellate court, he’ll lose his license to practice law.”

 Browne said some of the issues he plans to bring up on appeal are Richard giving her opinion during her testimony, one of the jurors being friends with a Grant County deputy prosecutor and documents implying Richard was getting a deal for her testimony.

While Stansfield was convicted of both counts, Judy Berrett, the Washington state Bar Association’s director of member and community relations, said there might not be any immediate repercussions to his ability to practice law.

“If a lawyer is convicted of a crime, we wait until the matter is taken care of in the courts,” she said. “We don’t want to interfere with what’s going on.”

If a lawyer loses his appeals, then the bar association is required to ask the state Supreme Court to suspend the attorney, Berrett said.

“If a lawyer is suspended then he or she could not practice law,” she said.