first on decorahnews.com: Iowa Supreme Court says Letter to the Editor of decorahnews.com was "misleading"

On April 18th of 2013 decorahnews.com posted a news story  (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2013/04/5237.html) that detailed the results of a civil lawsuit that had been filed against Decorah resident Christina Gray.  The news story described how a judge had ordered Gray to repay $113,751 to another Decorah woman.

In response, Gray's attorney, Heather Kingery, wrote a Letter to the Editor of decorahnews.com (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2013/04/5283.html) that claimed that Gray's criminal conviction on theft charges in the case "was largely affected by the inadequate representation of the legal counsel assigned to her, David Strand, who was disbarred by the Iowa Supreme Court in 2012 of which Ms. Gray is currently looking into appealing her wrongful conviction." 

Documents now obtained by decorahnews.com show that the Iowa Supreme Court's Attorney Disciplinary Board has reviewed the Letter to the Editor and has concluded that Kingery's letter "…included certain false or misleading statements."

The Iowa Supreme Court's Attorney Disciplinary Board stated that "as any competent lawyer would know, the time for appeal has expired about eleven months later."  The Board also pointed out that Gray had failed to file "a motion in arrest of judgment" prior to sentencing.

The Iowa Supreme Court's Attorney Disciplinary Board found additional statements in the Letter to the Editor that it declared were misleading.  Kingery had written "Ms. Gray was not found guilty by the court, but rather agreed through the attorneys to a settlement."  The Board noted that since Kingery was writing about a civil lawsuit and that "a finding that one is guilty or not guilty is made in a criminal case only," her statement was "meaningless as well as misleading."

The Iowa Supreme Court's Attorney Disciplinary Board also defended the plaintiff in the civil lawsuit.  Kingery had written in the Letter to the Editor that the woman "had caused significant and severe emotional distress (by) continuing to perpetuate false rumors about Ms. Gray."  The Board stated "The original news story (by decorahnews.com) to which you replied was not attributed to (the plaintiff), and any "rumors" of theft and fraud were plainly validated by Gray's plea of guilty (to criminal charges)."

Kingery was admonished for misconduct and given 30 days to respond to the Attorney Disciplinary Board's findings.  She did not respond and eventually the Iowa Supreme Court's Attorney Disciplinary Board suspended her license to practice law, as decorahnews.com reported in May of this year (http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2014/05/8156.html)