On June 12, the State Bar of Texas disbarred Burleson County District Attorney Charles Sebesta, the prosecutor whose misconduct led to the wrongful conviction of death row exoneree Anthony Graves (pictured, r.). The bar found that Sebesta violated no fewer than five of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, including making a false statement to a court, using evidence known to be false, and failing to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense. In 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned Graves’ conviction, finding that prosecutors elicited false statements and failed to provide key evidence to Graves’ attorneys. Graves was exonerated in 2010, when a special prosecutor re-examined the case, found no credible evidence against Graves, and dropped the charges against him. Assisted by pro bono attorneys Neal Manne, Charles Eskridge, and Kathryn Kase, Graves filed a grievance against Sebesta in 2014 because, according to his attorneys, “even after Mr. Graves’ exoneration, Mr. Sebesta continued to claim he had done nothing wrong in prosecuting Mr. Graves. Grotesquely, Mr. Sebesta continued to torment Mr. Graves and his family by insisting both in public statements and on a web site he maintained that Mr. Graves really was a murderer and was guilty of the crimes.” Graves said, “No one who makes it a goal to send a man to death row without evidence—and worse, while hiding evidence of my innocence—deserves to be a lawyer in Texas.”

(P. Colloff, “Ex-DA Who Sent Exoneree Anthony Graves to Death Row Is Disbarred,” Texas Monthly, June 12, 2015; “Statement of Counsel for Anthony Graves Regarding the State Bar’s Ruling that Charles Sebesta Should be Disbarred for Violating Ethical Rules,” Press Release, June 12, 2015; “Statement of Anthony Graves Regarding the State Bar’s Ruling that Charles Sebesta Should be Disbarred for Violating Ethical Rules,” Press Release, June 12, 2015.)

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