North Carolina Bar Files Ethics Complaint Against Lawyer Accused of Fleecing Intellectually Disabled Death-Row Exonerees

Henry McCollum in Sept. 2014, moments after a judge declared him innocent.

Florida lawyer Patrick Megaro is facing an official complaint by the North Carolina State Bar for allegedly defrauding death-row exonerees Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, and taking 1/3 of the compensation granted to the 2 men.

Half-brothers McCollum and Brown were exonerated in 2014 after spending 30 years in prison, some on death row, for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

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Both men are intellectually disabled, a factor that made them more vulnerable to wrongful conviction, and, the Bar complaint says, vulnerable to exploitation by Megaro. After McCollum and Brown were exonerated and formally pardoned by Governor Pat McCrory, they sought compensation from North Carolina for their wrongful convictions and incarceration.

Megaro became McCollum's and Brown's lawyer in March 2015, after 2 women who claimed to be advocating on behalf of the brothers persuaded them to fire the lawyers who had been representing them in their compensation action and to hire Megaro's firm instead. The brothers received compensation awards of $750,000, but Megaro - who the complaint says did virtually no work on their exonerations or compensation cases - took $250,000 in fees from each man.

Within 7 months, McCollum was out of money and taking out high-interest loans that Megaro arranged and approved. Megaro also negotiated a proposed settlement of the brothers' wrongful prosecution lawsuit in which he was to receive $400,000 of a $1 million payment.

The complaint alleges that Megaro committed 16 ethical violations, including lying to judges, double-billing his clients, and engaging in fraud by signing for loans with a 42% interest rate.

It also alleges that he violated his duty to act competently when he failed to determine the police department's insurance policy limits before agreeing to settle the brothers' wrongful prosecution case. McCollum expressed his disappointment with Megaro, saying, "He took money that he should have never took. I could have that money right now."

According to the Marshall Project, "Wednesday's complaint begins a legal process similar to a civil lawsuit that will likely culminate in a public trial of the charges, with 3 members of the state's Disciplinary Hearing Commission sitting as judge and jury."

Megaro - whose law partner derided the disciplinary action as "a political prosecution" - could face disbarment if he is found guilty.

Source: Death Penalty Information Center, October 3, 2018. Joseph Neff, Lawyer Accused of Preying on Vulnerable Clients, The Marshall Project, September 26, 2018.

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