NEW ORLEANS – New Iberia attorney and former judge candidate Shane Errol Romero faces suspension following a recommendation issued May 14 by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee and his 2016 guilty plea regarding campaign financing of an inflammatory political flier.
In its eight-page recommendation, LADB Hearing Committee No. 19 recommended Romero be suspended for one year, with three months deferred, and that he be ordered to pay all costs.
The recommendation was signed May 2 by committee Chair Timothy A. Maragos. Attorney member Alan K. Breaud and public member Margaret B Hebert concurred in the recommendation.
Romero was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 23, 1999, according to his profile on the Louisiana State Bar Association’s website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed in Romero's profile and a search of the LADB's online database of disciplinary decisions and rulings also turned up no prior record of discipline
Romero is the son of former Iberia Parish President Errol “Romo” Romero
Allegations against Shane Romero stem from his bid in 2014 for New Iberia city judge, during which a political flier emerged that disparaged Romero's opponent in the five-candidate race, Theodore “Trey” Haik III.
Romero, who subsequently lost the race, pleaded guilty in November 2016 in 19th Judicial District East Baton Rouge Parish Court to a single count of violating state campaign finance/election laws by failing to file an accurate and complete financial disclosure report. Romero admitted that he failed to disclose a $1,760 expenditure to pay for the flier, according to the hearing committee's recommendation.
The office of disciplinary counsel filed formal charges against Romero in October and Romero filed his answer in December. Dane S. Ciolino, Louisiana legal ethics lawyer and professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, appeared on Romero's behalf before a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board hearing committee last month.
Romero stipulated to all allegations against him before the hearing committee, which meant the hearing committee issued only sanction recommendations. The hearing committee also found that Romero lied under oath to the Louisiana Board of Ethics and twice tried to suborn perjury when he asked the flier's printer to provide false evidence.