Lawyer Suspended For Sex With ClientPOSTED: 5:34 am EDT April 8, 2005
UPDATED: 5:35 am EDT April 8, 2005
SEATTLE -- The state Supreme Court on Thursday announced a two-year suspension for a lawyer caught having jailhouse sex with a triple-murder defendant she was representing.
Theresa Olson's suspension begins Friday; she must undergo a psychological evaluation before she can be reinstated.
Earlier, Olson and the state Bar Association had agreed to a one-year suspension, but the high court rejected the bar's recommendation.
In 2002, guards outside a King County Jail conference room saw Olson with her dress pulled up and her client, Sebastian Burns, standing behind her with his pants down. At the time of the encounter, Olson was 43 and married; Burns was 26.
Olson was removed from the case, and Burns was given new counsel. He was convicted last year, along with a friend, of beating the friend's sister and parents to death at their Bellevue home in 1994.
Olson's lawyer, David Allen, did not immediately return a call seeking comment after business hours Thursday.