NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans attorney Walter P. Reed, who was district attorney in two districts over 30 years, faces possible disbarment following a Jan. 6 recommendation by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee over his 2016 corruption conviction.
In its 14-page recommendation, the board recommended the Louisiana Supreme Court permanently disbar Reed.
"In mitigation, the committee has considered [Reed]'s high repute as a police officer and his courageous actions in ending the terrible Essex rampage in which numerous policemen and civilians were killed," the recommendation said. "[Reed] long served, without disciplinary issues, as the St. Tammany Parish District Attorney, though this fact weighs more heavily as an aggravating than a mitigating factor: he should have known better than to engage in the crimes for which he was convicted."
Reed, now 73, was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 28, 1978, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
Reed was district attorney in St. Tammany and Washington parishes for about three decades.
In April 2015, Reed was indicted in U.S. District Court in Louisiana's eastern district on multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering and other charges, according to an FBI news release at the time.
Reed was indefinitely suspended following a Supreme Court order in June 2016, about a month after Reed and his son, Steven P. Reed, were convicted on various charges, including wire fraud and money laundering, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release at the time.
In April 2017, Walter Reed was sentenced to 48 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Walter Reed also was ordered to pay $572,000 in restitution and $40,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, in addition to a $15,000 fine and more than $609,000 in forfeiture.
Steven Reed was sentenced that same month to five years' probation and 50 hours of community service.
This past February, Walter Reed was ordered to report to federal prison in April.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Reed's appeal.
Reed is being held at the minimum security federal correctional institution in Morgantown, W. Va., according to an online inmate search. His current release date is Oct. 11, 2021.