TOPEKA, Kan. — A local attorney has been granted three years supervised probation of his law license.
The case against Sam Kepfield has to do with a filing by the office of the Disciplinary Administrator against him alleging he violated the rules of judicial conduct.
The complaint was filed because he apparently excepted funds from a client to help him get some relief from his prison sentence, that being $2,000.
Kepfield after excepting the payment in 2011 stated that the case would proceed with a Habeas Corpus motion challenging the computation of the sentence handed down with the goal securing the defendants release. But, only worked on the defendants case some.
In July of 2013, the defendant filed a petition of Habeas Corpus with the District Court on his own without Kepfield, but sent a letter informing Kepfield of what he had done. Kepfield didn’t respond and even when the first hearing was scheduled, Kepfield was a no show. After a second hearing was scheduled and he again didn’t show for court, the petition was denied.
However, on Sept. 3, 2013 the defendant and Kepfield did meet. Kepfield told the defendant that he could get the petition going again but never did anything to accomplish that. The defendant then asked for his money back, but never received the money.
The Supreme Court concluded that Kepfield violated a number of rules concerning the conduct of lawers and Friday ordered the supervised probation, however should he violate that probation, his license could be suspended for one year.