A Tennessee lawyer has been formally reprimanded after he allegedly appeared in court drunk while representing a client charged with DUI.
On Monday, Kent Thomas Jones received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court pertaining to the 2017 incident.
According to the censure, Jones showed up late to represent his client at the court appearance in September 2017.
Court employees removed Jones from the courthouse, and he was subsequently charged with public intoxication. Criminal charges against the attorney were later dropped.
Kent Thomas Jones has received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court after he allegedly appeared in court while drunk. The Supreme Court is pictured
Jones had allegedly charged his client a flat fee of $2000, but did not specifically state that the money was nonrefundable.
He later agreed to return the money to his client, but has only made three partial payments in the nearly three years since the incident.
The censure orders Jones to pay the remaining money he owes within the next 60 days or risk being stripped of his law licence.
The Board of Professional Responsibility determined that Jones violated three rules of Professional Conduct: safekeeping funds, criminal conduct and prejudice to the administration of justice.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Jones for comment.
A copy of the public censure pertaining to Kent Thomas Jones
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