In Re Ketter

992 P.2d 205, 268 Kan. 146, 1999 Kan. LEXIS 653
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedNovember 5, 1999
Docket82,784
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 992 P.2d 205 (In Re Ketter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Ketter, 992 P.2d 205, 268 Kan. 146, 1999 Kan. LEXIS 653 (kan 1999).

Opinions

Per Curiam:

This is an original proceeding in discipline filed by tire office of the Disciplinary Administrator against the respondent, Robert William Ketter, alleging violations of Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct (KRPC) 8.4 (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 386). The Kansas Board of Discipline panel recommended disbarment. The Disciplinary Administrator recommends indefinite suspension. Ketter requests published censure. Three members of this court would impose indefinite suspension. However, a majority of the court agrees to suspend the imposition of discipline for a probation period of 3 years from this date under terms set out herein. A violation of any term subjects Ketter to further appropriate discipline including disbarment. Ketter said during oral argument:

“I would like to state to this court that if you allow me to keep my license and continue practicing, if any ... as a way to redeem myself and to prove myself ... if any instance of sexual misconduct would ever come up again you can quote the transcript that is being recorded and I will surrender my license.”

We shall hold Ketter to his promise.

Ketter presents two issues: (1) Does his Class B nonperson misdemeanor conviction for lewd and lascivious behavior, under the facts here, constitute a violation of KRPC 8.4, and (2) what is the appropriate discipline?

FACTS

Ketter is an attorney admitted to the practice of law in Kansas in 1986. The office of the Disciplinary Administrator filed a formal [147]*147complaint alleging violations of KRPC 8.4 following Ketter s 1998 misdemeanor conviction for lewd and lascivious behavior.

The panel found that Ketter violated KRPC 8.4. Ketter’s 1998 misdemeanor conviction arose out of an incident in a Topeka grocery store parking lot. A 17-year-old boy reported he saw Ketter masturbating while sitting in his car which was parked in the store parking lot. Ketter denied the charge and testified at his bench trial.

The formal complaint filed by the Disciplinary Administrator alleged that, besides the misdemeanor conviction, Ketter had “engaged in a pattern of repeated offenses indicating an indifference to the law.” In presenting the case to the panel, the Disciplinary Administrator referenced two prior informal admonitions involving Ketter. The first dated back to 1987, and involved three convictions for indecent exposure in North Carolina. The second occurred in 1996. It arose from a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct in Kansas. The Lyon County District Court found Ketter not guilty by reason of diminished capacity. Despite the acquittal, Ketter was again informally admonished.

Ketter acknowledged before the hearing panel that Rule 202 (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 207), precluded him from attempting to dispute the underlying merits of his 1998 conviction. Under Rule 202 a certificate of conviction is conclusive evidence of the commission of a crime in a disciplinary proceeding.

Ketter presented extensive testimony on his background and prior disciplinary offenses. He also put on testimony from a former employer and a former co-worker.

Ketter’s Background

While at the United States Naval academy, Ketter’s eyesight deteriorated, dashing his hopes of becoming a pilot. He married upon graduation from the Academy and began his career in the Marine Corps as a second lieutenant.

He applied for a military law school program. While his application was pending, he was deployed to Beirut, Lebanon. He was accepted in the legal program and returned to the United States. [148]*148A few months later, a truck bomb exploded at his former marine barracks in Beirut, killing his replacement and 241 other marines.

During law school his marriage deteriorated into what he termed a “peaceful co-existence.” When he graduated from law school, Ketter was assigned to Camp Lejune, North Carolina, to begin his legal career with the Marine Corps. He had specifically requested to not be sent to Camp Lejune because Camp Lejune contained too many painful reminders of the friends he lost in the Beirut bombing.

While serving as a Judge Advocate at Camp Lejune, Ketter began exhibiting himself to women. He was arrested after exposing himself to an off-duty female probation officer. Police linked Ketter to two other similar incidents and he pled guilty to three counts of indécent exposure. He resigned from the Marine Corps, received an honorable discharge, and returned to Kansas. Military personnel informed the Disciplinary Administrator of the North Carolina convictions. Ketter’s first informal admonition followed.

Ketter practiced in Goodland for 3 years. He was recruited by a Topeka law firm and began working in Topeka in 1991. Shortly thereafter, he again began having impulses to exhibit himself. He did not seek therapy or any other type of help.

The Hays-Emporia Incidents

Ketter exposed himself to a group of young women in Plays, Kansas, in July 1993. He also masturbated in front of a.BaskinRobbins store employee in Emporia in July 1994. He was caught a few days jater in Emporia leaving obscene notes on the windshields of cars women had parked in a grocery.store parking lot. Police questioned Ketter about the Baskin Robbins incident and he confessed. Ketter was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior.

According to Ketter, he wrote the notes in ah attempt to assuage his compulsion to expose himself. No charges were ever filed concerning the Hays incident, which Ketter explained as a case of being “mooned” by one of the girls. In response, Ketter “pulled down [his] shorts and left.”

[149]*149When news of his arrest became public, Ketter was fired from the Topeka law firm. His wife left him and took their children back east. Ketter admitted himself to a clinic in Lenexa for treatment. The treating physician’s diagnosis was exhibitionism and obsessive compulsive disorder. He received 10 days of inpatient care and was treated with anti-depressant medication.

The district judge in the Emporia incident (at the Basldn-Robbins store) found Ketter not guilty due to diminished capacity. The treating physician testified that Ketter “had an irresistible compulsion to engage in that behavior which he could not control.”

The Disciplinary Administrator filed a complaint, charging Ketter with violating KRPC 8.4. The panel found respondent violated Rule 8.4(d) (engaging in conduct.that is prejudicial to the administration of justice) and 8.4(g) (conduct that adversely reflects on a lawyer’s fitness to practice law).

The Disciplinary Administrator recommended published censure. The panel majority imposed informal admonition. (The dissenting member recommended suspending discipline while Ketter complied with a course of evaluation and therapy.) The current panel, in reviewing the 1998 Topeka incident now before us, quoted extensively from the 1994 panel’s dissenting opinion after the Emporia incident. The 1994 dissenting panel member concluded, in part:

“I find the respondent’s -appearance and preparation to be very polished. I also find his presentation to be lacking in the sense that when he expresses, remorse, he expresses remorse in terms of embarrassing the Bar. Not once during his entire presentation or in any of the writings he produced, does he mention the victims of his conduct.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re Stewart
Supreme Court of Kansas, 2026
In re Spradling
509 P.3d 483 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2022)
In re Barker
321 P.3d 767 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2014)
In Re Cranmer
196 P.3d 932 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2008)
In Re Gackle
153 P.3d 493 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2007)
In Re Geeding
12 P.3d 396 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2000)
In Re Platt
8 P.3d 686 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2000)
In Re Ketter
992 P.2d 205 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
992 P.2d 205, 268 Kan. 146, 1999 Kan. LEXIS 653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ketter-kan-1999.