Attorney, Convicted Of Stealing $1.2 Million, Gets A Second Chance

SPOKANE - Much to the chagrin of his still-angry victims and former colleagues, John McLendon is getting a second chance.

Three years ago, the personal-injury attorney - convicted of stealing $1.2 million from client trust funds in the late 1980s - was stripped of his practice.

But the State Supreme Court rejected McLendon's disbarment in a 4-3 decision last month. The high court concluded he suffered from a brain disease that made his crimes the result of a mental illness, not a character flaw.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Robert Brachtenbach wrote that while McLendon's disease explained his actions, it did not excuse them.

"I feel like I've been wandering in the desert for 40 years and finally found an oasis," said McLendon, 53.

He said he plans to rejoin his former law partner, Spokane attorney Russell Van Camp.

"It'll be like going home again," McLendon said. "I just want to practice law. I've missed it every day."

Julie Neilsen is among those who can't believe McLendon will again be allowed to represent clients. Six years ago, McLendon spent Neilsen's $18,000 settlement in an accident case before she could turn 18 and claim it.

"I don't look at him as a lawyer, but as a criminal," she said. "If I was to break into someone's home and steal something, would they let me off if I said I was crazy at the time?"

She said she may picket McLendon's office when he returns.

Keith Douglass, the Spokane attorney who provided much of the evidence used to convict McLendon, is outraged.

"It shocks my conscience and should shock the conscience of all lawyers that a person such as John McLendon may return to the practice of law," Douglass said.

McLendon blamed antidepressant drugs he was taking in the 1980s for causing him to lose control and embark on a obsessive plan to expand his 40-employee law practice.

He exhausted his own money on investment schemes and luxuries and then started siphoning client trust funds.

"I had no control," McLendon said. "I was either so high I was creating empires with an office in every state, or I'd contemplate suicide."

During a 43-day stay at a psychiatric hospital in 1987, McLendon was diagnosed as suffering from bipolar disorder, a brain disease that causes cycles of manic and depressive behavior.

In February 1990, he pleaded guilty to first-degree theft in Spokane County Superior Court, admitting to stealing more than $90,000 from clients and improperly "borrowing" $1.1 million from other accounts.

He served a 90-day jail term on work-release and was placed on probation for 10 years.

Since then, McLendon says he has sold off most of his possessions to repay the debts.

Neilsen, 23, said she is still owed thousands of dollars and never got an apology.

McLendon said his mood swings now are controlled with lithium carbonate. He said he hasn't had a relapse in six years and is fit for courtroom duty.

Mental-health experts say he is unlikely to lapse into past behavior.

Only time will tell, said deputy prosecutor Clint Francis, who prosecuted McLendon.