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City Lawyer Sent to Jail After Stealing $2M+
by Melissa Bailey | Aug 31, 2006 4:01 pm
Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Legal Writes
“Take him downstairs! He gets treated no different than any other defendant!” barked State Superior Court Judge Richard A Damiani (pictured), sending a former New Haven attorney to prison for seven years for robbing his clients, including an elderly woman, of over $2 million. John H. Peck, Jr., from a family of local attorneys, accepted the sentence Thursday after pleading guilty to first-degree larceny and giving up his license to practice law.
Peck’s late father, John H. Peck, was a well-known lawyer in the same courthouse. His three sisters, also lawyers, shed tears in the pews of a sixth-floor courtroom. Peck stood before his peers in a blue button-down shirt and slacks, a book stuck in his back pocket. He said nothing, no words of remorse, before accepting his sentence: 14 years, seven to serve, with five years’ probation, and orders to repay all the money he stole.
Peck, 52, of 104 Huntington St., resigned from the bar after an elderly woman accused him of siphoning off proceeds from the sale of properties. Three other victims later came forward, said Damiani, with losses totaling over $2 million. Peck stole $1.3 million from one client alone — 87 percent of the sale of that client’s mother’s estate.
One betrayed client, an elderly woman named Ann White, appeared in court Thursday to say a few last words to her former attorney.
“You, mister, are an absolute disgrace to the legal profession,” said White, reading from a long, handwritten letter. “You caused great unhappiness for me and my family.” She said the $183,000 Peck had stolen from her had been set aside to be used for her elderly mother’s care.
“You knew these circumstances and they meant nothing to you,” she said.
White, a former New Haven resident who now lives in Hamden, said she’s never been compensated since two property closings in 2001 and 2002: “I’ve received nothing in words or in money.” A generation older than Peck, she still hasn’t been able to retire: She still works as a nurse. She has applied to a fund, through the American Bar Association, for clients who have been ripped off by their attorneys.
Attorney William Dow III, representing Peck, said he hoped that “client security fund” would provide restitution for the clients: Peck doesn’t have the money. Dow, who sits on the board that administers the fund, said there’s $8.5 million in the coffers intended for clients like White. (He said he’d recuse himself from the decision if these victims’ cases come before the board.)
Judge Damiani gave Peck one last chance to speak before sending him to prison. Peck declined.
“[Peck] stole $2 million of people’s hard-earned money and he showed no remorse,” said Damiani. Damiani mourned the loss of the day when a lawyer was “the trustee of our liberties.”
“Today, the practice of law has become just a business” for lawyers like Peck. He said the client restitution fund was a good idea, but “we really have to root out those lawyers.”
“What you are is, plain and simple, a common thief,” said Damiani to his former courtroom colleague. He read out the sentence. Instead of heading to lock-up, like normal prisoners, Peck turned around and started to walk towards his family and friends.
“Take him downstairs!” barked Damiani. “He gets treated no different than any other defendant!”
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