Lawyer Suspended For Jailhouse Sex

(Olympia, Washington) Updating a previous report on Public Defender Theresa Olson, the State Supreme Court has suspended Olson's license for two years for having sexual relations with her client, Sebastian Burns, while on a jailhouse visit. It's worth noting that Burns was Olson's only client for three years and that he ultimately was convicted of three murders.


Theresa Olson
(KING5.com Photo)
Dissenting Justices Sanders and Johnson believe the two-year punishment is excessive. Using a modified Clinton-Lewinsky argument, they contend that there is "no evidence" that sexual relations had occurred. Even though:

"[O]n Aug. 10, 2002, guards outside a King County Jail conference room saw her client, Sebastian Burns, standing behind her with his pants down and his penis erect. Her long dress was pulled up around her waist, the guards testified."

Justice Sanders' dissent was based upon dictionary definitions and the fact that there was no evidence of "coitus" and "sexual intercourse." He apparently expected to have something like a stained blue dress as evidence of intercourse between Olson and Burns. Nonetheless, despite the dissent, the two-year suspension was imposed. As an aside, one could say that the essence of the Clinton legacy has been formally argued by the Supreme Court of Washington.