Local Attorney Disbarred
ANNAPOLIS --- (Jan 6, 2005) A consent order for disbarment of Leonardtown attorney Joe Ashworth was ordered by the Maryland Court of Appeals on Wednesday, Jan. 5th. Ashworth had been voluntarily suspended in June following his being charged by States Attorney Richard Fritz with theft from a client and extortion. Circuit Court Judge Vincent Femia ruled that charges of extortion were unconstitutional and charging an attorney for sending a demand letter, as Ashworth did for clients he represented who claimed sexual harassment against a Lexington Park dentist, was simply a case of a lawyer doing his job.  Ashworth contended that he had not taken anything from his client and the court agreed that while he had done a good job for his client and was deserving of his fee, he committed a breach of conduct in misrepresenting the accounting of his case to the bar counsel, who sought disbarment. Judge Femia ruled that Fritz must turn the case against Ashworth over to the Attorney General's Office due to the conflict of interest on the part of Fritz bringing charges against the family member of a person who had Fritz as a defendant in a federal civil rights action. Fritz, former Sheriff Richard Voorhaar and 8 deputies have been ruled by the United States Court of Appeals to have violated the constitutional rights of ST. MARY'S TODAY publisher Kenneth Rossignol, Ashworth's brother-in-law, in the 1998 Election Day raid of newsstands. Action on the theft charges against Ashworth by the Attorney General is pending.