Former Jackson County DA faces 6-month suspension

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A former Jackson County district attorney faces a six-month license suspension for being criminally convicted on two counts of attempted adultery and one count of disorderly conduct.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a complaint on Tuesday charging James Ritland, of Black River Falls-based James C. Ritland Law Office, with one count of misconduct for giving money to two women in exchange for sex and other behavior that led him to be convicted of a criminal act.

One of the women was a former long-time client of Ritland’s, according to the complaint. She had been a client for about 15 years, and two or three years before Ritland stopped representing her, she became addicted to heroin and told Ritland.

As her unpaid legal bills piled up, Ritland told her he expected sexual favors as payment for those bills, and he gave her money for heroin and let her do heroin in his office, according to the complaint.

In a  criminal case in La Crosse County, Ritland paid $250 cash bail for the woman in March 2015. He was not representing her in that case. Ritland instructed the woman to meet him at his office the following Sunday. She met him there and performed oral sex on him, according to the OLR.

In March 2016, the woman called Ritland from the Jackson County jail and asked him to pay her $300 bond in a Jackson County criminal case. She told him she would repay him the same way she did in La Crosse.

Ritland visited her in jail that month, signing in as her attorney even though he wasn’t representing her in any cases at the time. During one of his visits, the OLR alleges he wrote a note to the woman that said “I still want 6 free ones I got you out of jail.”

That behavior, among other things, led to criminal charges that eventually landed Ritland in jail.

In September 2016, a special prosecutor from Vilas County charged Ritland in Jackson County with three felony counts of prostitution, three misdemeanor counts of prostitution and one felony count of maintaining a drug trafficking place. The prosecutor added more charges later, bringing the total to 12 charges.

Ritland was accused of soliciting three women between January 2013 and April 2016, posting bond for women in exchange for sex, maintaining a drug house, letting a woman ingest heroin in his office and giving women money to buy drugs.

In August 2017, Ritland pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of attempted adultery and one count of disorderly conduct. The remaining charges were dismissed but read in for sentencing.

In December 2017, a judge ordered Ritland to spend 25 days in jail, undergo a sex offender evaluation and spend 12 months on probation.

The OLR is asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to suspend Ritland’s license for six months. He could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday.

Ritland, who earned his law degree from Washington University School of Law in 1978, was the Jackson County district attorney in 1981 and 1982. His license is active and in good standing, according to the OLR and State Bar of Wisconsin websites.

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.