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06/15/2007 "See News Release 038 for any Concurrences and/or Dissents."

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA NO. 07-B-0351 IN RE: MICHAEL CHRIS AGUILLARD

ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS

PER CURIAM
This disciplinary matter arises from formal charges filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel ("ODC") against respondent, Michael Chris Aguillard, an attorney licensed to practice law in Louisiana but currently on interim suspension pursuant to our order in In re: Aguillard, 05-2237 (La. 9/19/05), 913 So. 2d 114.

UNDERLYING FACTS In September 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, respondent made Internet contact with a person whom he believed to be a thirteen-year old evacuee from New Orleans. Respondent arranged to meet the girl in a park in Broussard, Louisiana for the purpose of engaging in sexual relations. In reality, the "girl" was an investigator from the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, which had been conducting an online undercover operation in cooperation with the Lafayette Police Department. When respondent arrived at the park on September 13, 2005 to meet the girl, he was arrested and charged in East Baton Rouge Parish with one count of computer-aided solicitation of a minor.1
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La. R.S. 14:81.3(A) defines computer-aided solicitation of a minor as follows: Computer-aided solicitation of a minor is committed when a person eighteen years of age or older knowingly contacts or communicates, through the use of electronic textual communication, with a person who has not yet attained the age of eighteen or a person reasonably believed to have not yet attained the age of eighteen, for the purpose of or with the intent to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce the person (continued...)

Subsequent investigation of information found on respondent's computer hard drive revealed that he had previously engaged in sexual intercourse with a fifteenyear old girl from Arnaudville, Louisiana. On September 16, 2005, respondent was rearrested in St. Landry Parish and charged with carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a juvenile. On April 24, 2006, respondent pleaded guilty in East Baton Rouge Parish to one felony count of computer-aided solicitation of a minor. Respondent was sentenced to serve three years at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. He was also required to register as a sex offender. On May 2, 2006, respondent pleaded guilty in St. Landry Parish to two felony counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile. Respondent was sentenced to serve nine years at hard labor on each count to run concurrently, but consecutive with the sentence imposed in East Baton Rouge Parish. All but one year of the sentence was suspended and respondent was placed on five years active supervised probation, to commence upon his release from prison. Respondent is currently in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS On May 3, 2006, the ODC filed two counts of formal charges against respondent, alleging that his conduct constituted a violation of Rules 8.4(a) (violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct) and 8.4(b) (commission of a criminal act reflecting adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer)

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(...continued) to engage or participate in sexual conduct or a crime of violence as defined in R.S. 14:2(B), or with the intent to engage or participate in sexual conduct in the presence of the person who has not yet attained the age of eighteen, or person reasonably believed to have not yet attained the age of eighteen. 2

of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Respondent was personally served with the formal charges on May 4, 2006. Respondent failed to answer or otherwise reply to the formal charges. Accordingly, the factual allegations contained therein were deemed admitted and proven by clear and convincing evidence pursuant to Supreme Court Rule XIX,

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Louisiana Law