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Ethics

Prosecutor ‘poisoned the morale’ of DA’s office with fake harassment texts, disbarment order says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 10, 2025, 9:32 am CST

A former prosecutor in Colorado should be disbarred for faking four texts that she attributed to a co-worker, including one referring to her as a “sex doll,” according to a Dec. 31 hearing board opinion.

Yujin Choi of Denver fabricated the texts in October 2022 to make it appear that the co-worker was harassing her and then “doubled down on that deceit” by intentionally altering evidence, according to the hearing board, which is part of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge.

Choi allegedly doctored cellphone records and repeatedly deleted the texts. She claimed that her cellphone stopped working when she accidentally dropped it in the bathtub and asserted that her laptop also broke when she accidentally spilled water on it.

“In our view, this narrative is not plausible,” the opinion said.

Choi “pursued a personal vendetta” against the co-worker, criminal investigator Dan Hines, “by launching an informal smear campaign” for reasons “that remain opaque to us,” the hearing board said.

The New York Times, Law360, the Denver Post and Ars Technica (via the Legal Profession Blog) have coverage.

Choi, who was admitted to practice in May 2019, can appeal the decision. She was a deputy district attorney in the Denver district attorney’s family violence unit before she was fired for the alleged misconduct.

Choi sent the four texts to herself, changing the name in her cellphone to make it appear the co-worker was the sender, the hearing board concluded. It was the second time that she had accused Hines.

The first time, in 2021, Choi claimed that Hines had made an inappropriate remark in June 2021, and that he later sent a text that she considered to be harassing. An investigation was closed as unsubstantiated. Hines was nonetheless transferred within the office and told to avoid contact with Choi.

The texts at issue in the ethics opinion surfaced in October 2022. Choi was at a bar with friends when she showed them a text. It read: “Yujin, please stop talking about what I didn’t do to our colleagues. You are using your looks against innocent people. If you want to act like a sex doll to get a sugar daddy … fine, but that will not be me.”

Choi claimed that there were three more texts, all from Hines. They read, “Don’t be stupid,” “Let’s talk,” and “I’m sorry, hope you have a nice weekend.”

By disseminating the texts to co-workers and supervisors, Choi “perpetrated a false and harmful narrative that Hines had sexually harassed her by sending her these messages,” the opinion said.

Choi said she didn’t want the matter investigated, but her supervisors felt a duty to do so and required cooperation. When Hines was confronted with the texts, he logged in to his Verizon account to provide cellphone records and offered his iPhone for investigation. There was no indication that Hines sent the texts, the hearing board said.

Official records obtained directly from Verizon indicated that Choi sent and received the fourth text message in the Hines text thread at the time that she claimed to have received it, leading the hearing board to conclude that she also sent the first three messages. The first text displayed a time stamp indicating that it was sent more than 40 minutes after Choi texted a supervisor about it.

The damage included harm to Hines’ reputation and betrayal of co-workers who advocated for her during the investigation, the decision said.

Choi “poisoned the morale of the DA’s office, contributing to an environment in which victims feared they might be disbelieved and others feared they might be wrongly accused,” the hearing board said. “Further, her actions called into question whether the evidence in the criminal cases she prosecuted was genuine,” tarnished the reputation of prosecutors, and potentially undermined the credibility of sexual harassment victims.

A counselor had diagnosed Choi with post-traumatic stress disorder and vicarious trauma caused by Choi’s emotionally taxing work in the family violence unit. Her lawyers did not immediately respond to ABA Journal emails seeking comment.

Hines told the Denver Post that he “wouldn’t wish this upon anybody,” and he was “living in hell” after Choi’s first accusation. He has sued the Denver district attorney over the handling of the investigation.

The district attorney’s office later determined that Choi’s casework was in “excellent order” with no evidence of fabrication, a spokesperson told the New York Times. The office also thinks that the investigation was properly handled, the spokesperson said.

An MTA bus driver on his Friday afternoon route in New York City attacked and stabbed a passenger with a knife — plunging it into their head and leg — after getting into a “verbal dispute” and punched by the rider over making a stop, cops say.

Ian Bascombe, 58, was allegedly driving a southbound B41 bus near Foster and Flatbush Aves. in Brooklyn, New York, when passenger Quentin Branch, 33, asked him to pull over to drop him off, according to the New York Police Department.

“The passenger wanted to exit at an unauthorized stop,” NYPD officials tell Law&Crime.

The medical license of an Arkansas doctor with a family medicine practice has been suspended following allegations that he harassed and engaged in sexual activity with members of his staff — who were also his patients — and was walking about his medical clinic completely nude.

The Arkansas State Medical Board on Wednesday issued an emergency order of suspension pending a hearing regarding alleged violations of the Medical Practices Act against Dr. David Diffine, documents obtained by Law&Crime show.

According to the order, the board received information indicating that Diffine’s practice required immediate action regarding the “public health, safety, and welfare.”

A now-former Indiana sheriff’s deputy was recently arrested after pretending to be a woman on Facebook in order to harass a schoolteacher he once dated, law enforcement in the Hoosier State says.

Derek Joseph Bogenschutz, 36, stands accused of one count of felony identity deception, according to the Indiana State Police.

The defendant previously worked as a deputy with the Jay County Sheriff’s Office — and also as a part-time resource officer at the elementary school where the woman taught.

It is unclear when, exactly, Bogenschutz stopped working for the sheriff’s office.

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Technology

Reports of sexual harassment abound during Legalweek tech conference

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 6, 2024, 9:15 am CST

Reports on social media about sexual harassment and assault during the New York Legalweek technology conference last week have led the event sponsor to issue a statement condemning the misbehavior.

Deeanna Fleener, vice president of solution management at Deloitte, is posting the reports from anonymous women on LinkedIn, report Above the Law and the Global Legal Post.

“In a group of 29 women, 20 had personal stories of inappropriate behavior at a conference,” Fleener wrote. “That is unacceptable, and we have to do better.”

Event sponsor ALM, which publishes Law.com, said the alleged harassment happened off-site, and it wanted to “reiterate our strong position that any such behavior has zero place in any setting.”

Fleener posted allegations by women that included:

  • “Last night, I was propositioned in the most graphic way I’ve ever heard. When I turned him down, he tried to convince me to leave with him by telling me his pregnant wife was on bed rest, and I was doing her a favor.”

  • “A leader at a firm showed me a video of [two] girls under 20 in his bedroom naked and … invited me and the other woman I was with to join him.”

  • “A woman went to the bathroom and was pulled into the men’s room by a man who then wouldn’t let her leave.”

Here is the full ALM statement: “ALM has been made aware of reports of occurrences of highly inappropriate behavior, including harassment and assault, occurring at unaffiliated venues in New York City during the week of its Legalweek event. We first want to vehemently condemn all such actions and reiterate our strong position that any such behavior has zero place in any setting. While these acts did not occur on-site at Legalweek or at any conference-sponsored events, ALM prides itself on the community connections it creates and is committed to partnering with other key stakeholders to prevent harassment of any industry member.

“Our long-standing events policy provides that ALM is dedicated to providing a respectful conference experience for everyone and harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. We will continue to work internally and with external stakeholders in the community to determine how we can best champion meaningful, positive change for the legal community and address the larger problem in the industry.”

Commenting on the statement, Above the Law said it “hits all the right notes,” but the problem is more widespread.

“Allegations of all sorts of similar awful behavior have permeated every part of the legal industry: academia, the judiciary, law firms, government, politics,” Above the Law wrote. “It’s the industry that needs to respond, not just ALM.”