Disbarred Monroe attorney and former Louisiana state Sen. Charles D. "CD" Jones is no longer disbarred following a Jan. 29 Louisiana Supreme Court decree reinstating him to practice law in the state long after his 2010 conviction on tax evasion charges.
"After considering the record in its entirety, we find [Jones] has met his burden of proving that he is entitled to be readmitted to the practice of law," the state high court's three-page decree said. "Nevertheless, further precautions are warranted to insure that the public will be protected upon petitioner's return to practice."
Jones, 68, also was placed on three years' unsupervised probation and was ordered to pay costs, according to the decree. Jones is required to file quarterly reports, to continue making regular court ordered restitution payments as part of his probation, according to the decree.
Jones was admitted to the Louisiana bar Oct. 24, 1975, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
Following a colorful political career of nearly three decades, including long service as a Democrat in the Louisiana Senate, Jones was convicted in August 2010 of one felony count of tax evasion and two felony counts of making and subscribing a false tax return. The following September, the Louisiana Supreme Court gave Jones an interim suspension.
Jones was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $305,174.05 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, according to a January 2011 U.S. Justice Department news release.
Jones lost his appeal in January 2012 and reported to federal prison the following month to begin serving his sentence.
While all of that was going on, Jones failed to provide competent representation and neglected the legal matters of two clients and failed to adequately communicate with them, according to the decree. "He also failed to fulfill his obligations to a federal court and failed to adequately supervise his non-lawyer staff," the decree said. "For this misconduct, as well as for petitioner’s criminal conviction, we imposed disbarment, retroactive to the date of his interim suspension."
In September 2016, Jones filed for readmission. His request was heard before a hearing committee, which recommended readmission to the Louisiana Bar without conditions.