"ANOTHER LAWYER COMMITS CRIMES"

February 28, 2004

Jail time for 'bad' lawyer

   By Oliver Mackson
   Times Herald-Record
   omackson@th-record.com
   
   Goshen – Linda Blake of Warwick is a bad lawyer, a judge said yesterday. She doctored papers to beat an accusation of bad lawyering, an act that stained the entire profession. But stupid wasn't enough to justify state prison time.
 

   Blake, 53, was sentenced yesterday in Orange County Court to six months in jail and five years' probation.
 

   A jury convicted her Oct. 20 of a felony, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument; the "instrument" was a document Blake signed and gave to a legal grievance committee to show that she hadn't mismanaged the estate of an ailing, 79-year-old Warwick woman.
 

   The scam was brought to light by Randy DeMercado, a friend of the victim. He spoke on her behalf yesterday at Blake's sentencing, saying, "Ms. Blake had this woman virtually sign her life away – her house, her possessions – with no recourse."
 

   The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Robert Ostrov, asked for a maximum sentence from Judge Stewart Rosenwasser.
 

   Ostrov argued that 2¤ to 7 years in state prison was an appropriate punishment for Blake.
 

   He noted that the grievance committee had investigated five complaints about Blake in three years. Some lawyers go through an entire career, Ostrov said, without a single grievance.
 

   "It's about time Linda Blake be held accountable for what she's been doing for years," Ostrov told the judge.
 

   Blake stood silently in her handcuffs next to her lawyer, Douglas Dollinger. She exercised her right to not speak on her own behalf.
 

   Dollinger noted that several people had written letters asking the judge to go easy on Blake: "Those people count, Your Honor," Dollinger said. "They're her friends, neighbors and business associates."
 

   Rosenwasser pointed out that Blake wasn't charged with stealing anything. He observed that the grievance committee warned her about the conduct that got her arrested last year. She could have faced a more serious sanction, such as a suspension.
 

   Now she faces disbarment because of her felony conviction.
 

   "What Ms. Blake did, plain and simple, was stupid," Rosenwasser said.
 

   "You panicked. You forged a signature. That's a crime."
 

   Rosenwasser also gave her a lawyer-to-lawyer rebuke. "People expect more from us," the judge said, "and they are entitled to that expectation."
 

   Blake will get credit for time already served in jail since December. That means she could be out of jail in about two months.
 

   She's filed papers that show she plans to appeal.

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