Attorney who asked client to buy weed suspended for 3 years

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A Marathon attorney who gave a teenage client $400 to buy him an ounce of marijuana was suspended from practicing law for three years.

Ronald Moore, 58, was suspended for his work on the teenager’s case, as well as for work in a guardianship case that he mishandled, according to a state Supreme Court opinion released Friday.

Moore, who has practiced law since 1984, was convicted of misdemeanor conspiracy to possess marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia because of his actions.

According to court documents, Moore was representing the 18 year old in several criminal cases and at one point asked him what the going rate was for an ounce of marijuana. Moore then gave the 18 year old money to buy the marijuana, but the sale never was completed, according to a state Supreme Court opinion released Friday. When the teen’s parents confronted Moore, the attorney told them that it was a “good faith buy,” even though law enforcement later denied the claim.

The court, in its opinion, said that “a lengthy suspension, with the accompanying requirement that Attorney Moore must prove his character and fitness to resume the practice of law, is an appropriate result of this professional misconduct.”

“Not only did he conspire with another to violate the criminal law of this state,” the justices wrote, “he directed his own client, a young man already facing multiple criminal charges, to break the law again to serve [his] own personal cravings. Instead of helping his client to gain a respect for the laws of this state, Attorney Moore demonstrated to his young client his own disdain for the rule of law.”

Moore did not immediately return a message left Tuesday afternoon.

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