By Elizabeth Stull
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
JAY STREET — A fake lawyer who ripped the court during a child custody hearing in Brooklyn Family Court was sentenced yesterday for practicing law without a license, District Attorney Charles J. Hynes announced.
Natasha Riley, 44, admitted that she posed as an attorney and appeared in the Family Court four times — twice in October 2006 and again in December 2006 and February 2007 — representing litigants during calendar calls on those dates.
She had at least eight clients in her faux legal career, in which she pretended to handle juvenile delinquency as well as child custody cases, according to the district attorney’s office.
A judge grew suspicious when Riley became so incensed during a custody proceeding that she cursed the court.
“This is bullsh-t!” Riley allegedly said. The district attorney’s office declined to identify the judge or any of the parties involved in the hearing, and a spokeswoman said they were not sure to whom Riley’s remark was directed.
Riley, who was also identified as Deborah Connor, pleaded guilty to offering a false instrument for filing, a Class-E Felony. She was sentenced yesterday to five years’ probation. Brooklyn Justice Guy Mangano Jr. also ordered her to pay restitution, in the amount of $3,267, to seven victims who paid her to be their lawyer.
An investigation yielded a list of clients who paid Riley between $300 and $900 per court appearance.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph DiBenedetto, of the Rackets Division, prosecuted the case.
Defense attorney Keisha Louis, of the Legal Aid Society, represented Riley. Louis could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Practicing law without a license is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. Riley faced the more serious felony charge of offering a false instrument for filing because she identified herself as an attorney in court papers.
A new state law proposed last year would make the unauthorized practice of law a felony on par with statutory rape, stalking, insurance fraud, identity theft and inciting a riot. If it passed, the penalty for unlawful practice would be a maximum of four years in state prison, the same potential punishment faced by doctors, accountants, architects and certified shorthand reporters who act as professionals without the appropriate license, the New York Law Journal reported.
Bar association President Barry Kamins said he is more concerned about making the victim whole than about penalizing an unlicensed attorney.
“Anyone who has been victimized by someone who poses as an attorney needs to be compensated adequately or restitution should be made to that person,” said Kamins, a Brooklyn attorney and president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
If any of Riley’s cases had reached resolution, they could be overturned because she had no credentials, a court spokeswoman said. She added that the Family Court will assess what happened in each matter on a case-by-case basis. The status of Riley’s family court cases could not be determined by press time yesterday.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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