Attorney will face hearing on conduct

By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter

	Theresa Olson
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

A public disciplinary hearing has been ordered for a Seattle attorney who was caught in a jailhouse sexual encounter more than a year ago with her client, a man currently on trial for three killings in Bellevue.

A review committee for the Washington State Bar Association has said it found sufficient evidence to hold the hearing to decide the professional fate of Theresa Olson.

The hearing won't be scheduled until the trial of her former client, Sebastian Burns, is completed this spring.

Burns, 28, and his friend, Atif Rafay, 27, are being tried in King County Superior Court for aggravated first-degree murder in the slayings of Rafay's family in Bellevue nine years ago. Prosecutors say the two bludgeoned Rafay's father, mother and sister to get life-insurance money. Both men deny their involvement.

Olson, 44, has acknowledged that she had sexual contact with Burns in August 2002 in a conference room at the King County Jail. She was removed from the case, new attorneys were appointed, and the case was postponed.

Olson and the bar association had agreed to settle the disciplinary case by suspending Olson's law license for a year. But the Washington State Supreme Court rejected that proposed penalty.

Although the court did not comment on or explain its rejection of the penalty, observers generally presumed that it found the one-year suspension too lenient.

After the hearing, a bar association officer will determine an appropriate sanction against Olson. A disciplinary board will review that proposal, and if it approves, the proposal will be sent to the Supreme Court for final approval.

The court has the final say in all cases of lawyer discipline involving suspension or disbarment.

Olson and her Seattle attorney, David Allen, could not be reached yesterday for comment.

While waiting for the outcome of her discipline case, Olson has been doing noncourtroom legal work for other defense attorneys.

Meanwhile, King County has sued Olson and The Defender Association, the public-defense agency that employed her.

The county is seeking repayment of costs incurred by removing Olson from the Burns case. The suit is on hold pending the outcome of Burns' trial.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company