Alleged drunk and harassing former Wisconsin District Attorney loses license for one year

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a former Wisconsin District Attorney has lost his license to practice law with a one-year suspension, and nearly a $6000 fine.

Former Eau Claire County District Attorney Gary King resigned from his position back in August of 2021 and was subject to a federal lawsuit, according to Federal court documents

According to Wisconsin Supreme Court documents obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal, King was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin in 1998 and did not have a prior disciplinary history.

On May 5, 2022, the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) filed a complaint against King alleging two counts of misconduct, both arising out of his conduct as the Eau Claire County District Attorney.

Count One: By sleeping through a January 2021 court hearing, appearing in a February 2021 court hearing while under the influence of intoxicants or otherwise impaired, and appearing in a June 2021 court hearing while under the influence of intoxicants or otherwise impaired, Attorney King violated SCR 20:1.1.2

Count Two: By making multiple inappropriate sexual comments to female employees in his office, and engaging in unwanted sexual contact with J.B., Attorney King violated SCRs 20:8.4(g),3 20:8.4(i),4 and40.15.5

The State Bar of Wisconsin previously gave King an award and provided him with grant money for work with the Chippewa County legal clinic.

An Assistant District Attorney (ADA) reported that King would frequently come into attorneys’ offices and interrupt their work, sometimes falling asleep in the attorney’s office. A former ADA wrote a letter to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers saying that she had witnessed Attorney King sleeping and snoring in meetings and court proceedings.

Chicago Police Department (CPD) officials said King also fell asleep during a meeting with representatives of the CPD.

At one point, former Eau Claire County Sheriff Ron Cramer (who reportedly committed suicide in 2022) asked King to submit to a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) after he publicly cried, ranted, yelled and screamed, prompting District Attorney office employees to be evacuated to a safe location and sent home for the remainder of the day.

Circuit Court Judge Michael Schumacher said he observed King “nod off, jerk his head, and lose his balance for the next forty minutes.”

Other judges, and officers of the court documented a pattern of King’s inebriation and sleeping during court, according to court documents.

King was also accused of harassment.

King allegedly asked the victim about her sex life with her husband and said, “if you came to me in a vulnerable state, I could not say no to you.”

King also allegedly told the victim that he “used to think she was the kind of girl he could take to the Super 8 but now knows he has to take her somewhere fancier like the Lismore.”

According to court documents, King allegedly also physical touched the victim’s pony tail and mentioned to her “the possibility of having a threesome with someone who lived near the District Attorney’s Office.”

Also according to court documents, on February 10, 2021, the victim contacted human resources to report that Attorney King was sexually harassing her.

Eau Claire County officials then launched a formal investigation into her (victim’s name redacted) complaint. After interviewing multiple witnesses, Attorney Mindy Dale wrote a report to the Eau Claire County Human Resources Director concluding that Attorney King ‘did make inappropriate comments to women, most notably [Victim’s name / redacted], which made them uncomfortable. Further, he should not have kissed [victim’s name redacted] on the cheek or pulled her on to [his] lap, regardless of the emotions he was feeling at the time.” Attorney Dale recommended that a copy of her letter and related reports be forwarded to the Department of Administration for ‘further consideration and disposition.'”

King attributed his misconduct to personal or emotional problems he was experiencing at the time, and he described the two-year period detailed in the complaint as a particularly difficult time in his life, which included the deaths of family and friends and the isolation of the COVID quarantine.

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney who serves as President of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association condemned King’s conduct.

“Former DA King’s conduct is outlined in a Supreme Court opinion released today. The conduct described in the opinion of appearing in court intoxicated and inappropriate sexual contact as well as sexual harassment towards his office staff is abhorrent and unacceptable for anyone. The behavior falls far beneath the ethical standards of an attorney, especially that of a district attorney,” Toney said during an interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal on Friday.

According to federal court documents obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal, a federal lawsuit was also filed in 2022 alleging that King discriminated against the plaintiff based on the basis of her sex and further subjected her to a hostile work environment.

Attorney Paul Kinne of Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs represented the alleged victim, plaintiff.

According to the complaint, the victim worked closely with the district attorney’s office in another neighboring government office.  The victim claims the harassment continued and intensified, thereby violating the victim’s rights to equal protection under laws by subjecting her to sexual harassment and abuse.

The victim requested both compensatory and punitive damages.

The federal lawsuit has since settled, according to court documents.