A former Kaua’i County deputy prosecutor has been suspended from the practice of law for six months for allegedly representing a criminal defendant while still a prosecutor. Stephen A. Levine, 51, a New Yorker and a member of the Hawai’i
A former Kaua’i County deputy prosecutor has been suspended from the practice of law for six months for allegedly representing a criminal defendant while still a prosecutor.
Stephen A. Levine, 51, a New Yorker and a member of the Hawai’i Bar since 1978, was a deputy prosecutor on Kaua’i under former prosecuting attorney Ryan Jimenez.
After leaving his Kaua’i County position when Mike Soong was elected prosecuting attorney in 1996, Levine established a private practice on Kaua’i. Eventually he was hired as a deputy prosecutor on Maui.
According to a state Supreme Court investigation, while a prosecutor, Levine continued to represent a criminal defendant in a case on Kaua’i.
Carole Richelieu of the state’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel said Levine also misrepresented to Circuit Court that he had the permission of her office to represent his client, notwithstanding that he was serving as a deputy prosecutor.
“Levine was suspended for his misrepresentations to the Circuit Court and his employer,” Richelieu stated.
The suspension is effective Dec. 14.
Clifford Nakea, a Fifth Circuit Court judge on Kaua’i, is a member of the state’s disciplinary board.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
