Lawyer Cleared Of Bar Violations
By Eric Pera
The Ledger
Published: Monday, June 4, 2007 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, June 4, 2007 at 6:25 a.m.
LAKELAND – The Florida Supreme Court has cleared lawyer Raymond J. Rafool II, formerly of Winter Haven, of misconduct in connection with his handling of a heated Polk County custody case.
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Raymond J. Rafool II.
The Florida Bar sought sanctions that included a 90-day suspension of his license and paying court costs of $3,427 for Rafool’s actions while representing one of four couples seeking custody of three Polk sisters orphaned after their father fatally shot their mother then himself in late 2004.
The Nov. 23 murder-suicide dominated the news for days. Raymond Gans, 27, shot his wife, Jennifer, then took their three young daughters on a ride before shooting himself in the head at a police roadblock south of Mulberry.
The Bar’s complaint, filed in February 2006, stated that Rafool acted inappropriately in helping arrange for the girls to travel to Wisconsin to visit their maternal great aunt, Karen Korf, who wanted custody and eventually adopted the girls.
At the time of their visit in 2005, the children were to be accompanied by their maternal grandparents, Frederick and Patricia Moshier.
But the paternal grandparents, Raymond and Deborah Gans, objected to the visit, information that wasn’t made clear in a document titled an “agreed order” submitted by Rafool to Circuit Judge J. Michael McCarthy, who permitted the visitation without a hearing.
Orange County Judge Mike Murphy, appointed to referee the Bar’s complaint, found Rafool guilty of violating two Florida Bar rules of conduct: knowingly making “a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal” and engaging in conduct “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
Murphy recommended Rafool take a four-hour seminar on ethics as the violation amounted to only minor misconduct.
But in a May 29 disposition order, the state’s highest court, in a 4-3 split, rejected Murphy’s findings of rules violations and absolved Rafool of having to pay the Bar’s court costs.
However, the court unanimously upheld the recommendation that Rafool attend ethics training.
In an e-mail response to the Supreme Court’s action, Rafool, who now lives in Miami, referred questions to his lawyer, Jack Weiss of Tallahassee.
“This is the final step. The case is over. The Bar lost,” Weiss said. “He (Rafool) is delighted with the disposition of the court. He was confident throughout that he would not be found guilty of any misconduct.
“While we appreciated Judge Murphy’s finding of minor misconduct, we respectfully disagreed that even that was appropriate.”
All along, the Bar pushed for stronger sanctions, Weiss said, appealing Murphy’s recommendations.
He said that his client ultimately “was gratified at the array of support he received from both the Bar and the public at large.”
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