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Court suspends law license of former Cuyahoga County prosecutor

00-2267. Disciplinary Counsel v. Cushion.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline of the Supreme Court, No. 99-36.
Ralph P. Cushion II is indefinitely suspended from the practice of law.
Douglas, F.E. Sweeney, Pfeifer and Cook, JJ., concur.
Moyer, C.J., Resnick and Lundberg Stratton, JJ., dissent.
Opinion: http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/0/2001/2001-ohio-181.pdf

The Supreme Court voted 4-3 to suspend indefinitely the law license of a former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecuting attorney convicted in 1999 of shooting a female companion.

Ralph P. Cushion is serving a five-year prison term for shooting Deanna Woods during an argument Aug. 8, 1998. Though he claimed the shooting was accidental, Cushion was convicted on five counts, including felonious assault.

Disciplinary commissioners determined that Cushion's criminal behavior violated Supreme Court rules that prohibit lawyers from engaging in illegal conduct involving moral turpitude and adversely reflecting on their fitness to practice law.

The Supreme Court adopted the panel's findings and its recommendation that Cushion be required to wait until one year after his release from prison to petition to have his law license reinstated. Typically, attorneys under indefinite suspension can petition the court two years after the suspension is imposed.

Chief Justice Moyer, Justice Alice Robie Resnick and Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton dissented from the majority in favor of disbarment. Stratton wrote in a dissenting opinion that Cushion's actions immediately after the shooting belied his claims that it was unintentional.

"He...abandoned the victim in the driveway after he shot her, sped recklessly away, and eventually crashed his vehicle before he was arrested. Such actions show a conscious disregard for whether Ms. Woods lived or died, which does not support his claim that the shooting was accidental."

Contacts
Jonathan E. Coughlan, 614.461.0256, for the Office Disciplinary Counsel.

William A. Summers and Edwin J. Vargas, 216.591.0727, for Ralph Cushion.