In a recent case of legal misconduct, former federal prosecutor Carlos A. Lopez and Dallas defense attorney Barrett R. Howell have been sentenced for improperly disposing of government records. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the debacle unfolded after a federal investigation into healthcare fraud where three individuals were charged, but Howell's client was not.
Caught in the throes of a legal tustle, Howell and Lopez found themselves ordered by U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn to produce text message communications related to the case. Riding the edge of impropriety, they instead chose to delete these messages in clear defiance of the court's directive. Lopez, age 49, previously pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge and has been sentenced to one year of probation and a $5,000 fine. Howell, with his 50 years weighing heavily on the scales of justice, aided and abetted the infraction and received six months of probation and a $2,500 fine, both accompanied by $25 mandatory special assessment fees.
The case took a turn when two of the charged defendants in the fraud investigation accused Howell of breaching a joint defense agreement. An evidentiary hearing was consequently set for May 15, 2023, to delve into whether Howell had provided protected information to Lopez. As per court records, upon learning about the motion to compel the release of their communications, Lopez deleted text messages from his government-issued cell phone, a deletion later mirrored by Howell who removed texts from his own cell phone on April 20, 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
However, truth has a way of clawing back to the surface. Deleted, but not gone—their misstep was uncovered when a forensic consultant retrieved the texts from Howell's cloud account. Despite Howell's intentions, marked "deleted" texts turned up upon the examination of a forensically-imaged cloud account by the government on May 10, just as the curtains were drawing on their little act of defiance. The Department of Justice was alerted the next day that Lopez, now flanked by a personal attorney, had also engaged in the digital cover-up.
The investigation, led by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Dallas Office, resulted in sentences that may seem lenient considering the gravity of the misconduct. Yet ceremonious, U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle commended the work of the investigative team. Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew R. Payne and Megan R. Roberts were the driving forces behind the prosecution, ensuring that even those who dwell within the legal profession are not beyond the arm of the law, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
