A committee that regulates attorneys in Arizona has found probable cause to take formal action against three lawyers who acted on behalf of former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake in election-related matters, according to Arizona Central.
Orders were filed against lawyers Kurt Olsen, Bryan Blehm and Andrew Parker after an investigation by the State Bar of Arizona. All three of them were previously sanctioned by judges either related to Lake's election challenge initiatives or their involvement in pushing for a hand count of ballots in the previous year.
Those cases, along with the conduct that resulted in sanctions, largely formed the foundation of the state bar's investigations. Their penalties could include a period on probation, reprimand or disbarment, the outlet reported.
Blehm and Olsen are implicated in a case stemming from a May ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court, which mandated they pay a $2,000 sanction for making false statements in Lake's legal challenge to her electoral defeat against Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. This ongoing case has seen a year's worth of court rulings favoring Hobbs, with Lake persistently pursuing an appeal.
The state's highest court found that the pair had repeatedly made false claims that it was an “undisputed fact” that about 35,000 ballots were illegally added to the results of the 2022 gubernatorial cycle in Maricopa County.
The court wrote that Lake failed to present any evidence to support the claim and sanctioned Lake and her team for making “false factual statements to the Court.” Records within the state bar's complaint file indicate that Olsen's law firm paid the sanction on May 11.
Regardless of this, Blehm's response to the bar, more than a month later in June, claimed he had never been sanctioned. Both Blehm and Olsen told state bar investigators that 35,000 ballots were indeed added to the count, emphasizing that this was not a matter of dispute.
“When a court already has sanctioned a lawyer for violations, there is a presumption that the lawyers has engaged in the misconduct and such determination would weigh heavily against the lawyer in any investigation undertaken by a professional disciplinary body making a determination whether the lawyer engaged in ethical misconduct,” Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University, told Salon.
Blehm is facing an additional complaint regarding a tweet he shared on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. His tweet alleged that the CIA and the Department of Justice colluded to pressure the Arizona Supreme Court into establishing a misinformation board. According to his claim, the board's purpose was to dissuade attorneys from pursuing legitimate cases of election fraud.
The committee issued another order, determining probable cause against Parker and Olsen in a case they initiated on behalf of Lake and former Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem. This legal challenge questioned the use of electronic ballot-counting machines in the election in which both candidates were participating.
The trial court initially dismissed the case in August 2022, referring to their claims as “vague” and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the trial court and also threw out the case on Oct. 16, The Arizona Mirror reported.
Joe Hengemuehler, the chief communications officer for the Bar, said that Blehm and Parker could face different consequences compared to Olsen because they hold licenses in Arizona, while Olsen does not.
Possibilities include the cases being dismissed, or the attorneys might be directed to participate in a diversion program as an alternative to disciplinary measures. They may also face an order of admonition, be placed on probation, or be mandated to pay restitution, according to The Arizona Mirror.
