Texas Lawyer has been chronicling the bad boys and girls of the legal profession for decades, and 2019 did not fail to produce fodder for discussion.

We examined the past year of coverage to find this group of attorneys who seem destined to land on Santa's naughty list.

In January, Round Rock attorney Tallion Kyle Taylor was convicted on three counts of possession of child pornography, and sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. But the sentence was suspended, and he was placed on probation for 10 years.

In September, the Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals suspended Taylor's law license as he appeals his convictions. If he loses his appeals, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline will seek his disbarment.

Public corruption

In early April, South Texas attorneys John F. Cuellar, a former Weslaco city commissioner, and Daniel Garcia were arrested in a public corruption case that alleged they were involved in a bribery scheme related to government contracts for a water treatment facility's upgrades and repairs. The government claims that Cuellar and a third defendant in public service exchanged votes on lucrative contracts for bribes from companies that stood to benefit from those contracts.

Garcia allegedly helped funnel $90,000 in bribes through his Interest on Lawyers Trust Account, because he wanted one of his lawyer friends to get a job with the city of Weslaco.

Marriage fraud sting

In May, Houston attorney Trang Le Nguyen, the managing partner in Pham & Nguyen Law Group, was arrested and charged in a massive marriage fraud scheme that netted nearly 100 defendants facing a total of 206 charges. The government alleged the defendants created sham marriages for Vietnamese immigrants for the purpose of obtaining legal immigration status for them.

Nguyen is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, tampering with a witness, and obstructing and impeding the due administration of justice. She pleaded not guilty.

Missing evidence

Retired Houston attorney Daniel Rizzo, who used to work as a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney's Office, denied allegations in a June grievance that he hid exculpatory evidence, and that this led to the wrongful conviction of Alfred Dewayne Brown on charges he murdered a police officer in 2003. Brown was declared actually innocent in May.

Alfred Dewayne Brown

The grievance claimed that Rizzo knew about phone records, which somehow went missing from police and prosecutor files, that backed Brown's alibi that he was at his girlfriend's apartment and made a phone call to his girlfriend at work at the time of the murder. Rizzo didn't tell defense counsel about the exculpatory evidence, the grievance alleged.

But Rizzo claimed that he never knew about or saw the phone records.

Slap across the face

In August, Houston lawyer Ronald "Ronny" Krist was charged with misdemeanor assault for slapping plaintiffs attorney Greg Enos. Krist, the retired founder of the Krist Law Firm, is a named defendant in a lawsuit in which Enos represents the plaintiff. Krist was at Enos' law office in Webster because his attorneys were scheduled to depose the plaintiff.

Right when he walked in the door, Krist confronted Enos for allegedly being disrespectful, and warned him to stop or he would "kick his ass." After Enos replied that he'd like to see Krist try, Krist delivered a slap across Enos' face—all captured on a security camera.

Screenshot of YouTube video of Ronald "Ronny" Krist slapping plaintiffs attorney Greg Enos. Photo: YouTube

'Valley Law'

Noe Perez Jr.

In September, Edinburg solo practitioner Noe Perez Jr. was sentenced to two years in prison in a case in which he admitted to paying bribes to former 93rd District Judge Rudy Delgado in exchange for favorable rulings in his clients' cases. Perez reported to prison on Nov. 19, and so did the judge, whom a McAllen jury convicted in July.

While his case was still pending, Perez was arrested and charged in a domestic violence incident involving his wife.

The Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed a compulsory discipline petition that alleged Perez's crimes were intentional and serious, and warrant his disbarment. The Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals is scheduled to take up the case in January 2020.

'You better call me'

Just three weeks after the Texas Supreme Court upheld the disbarment of McAllen attorney Mark Cantu, he was arrested on Nov. 15 for allegedly threatening a district judge in a voice mail. A Texas Ranger with the state Department of Public Safety investigated the incident, and wrote in an affidavit that Cantu said on the voice mail that he would report the judge, 332nd District Judge Mario Ramirez, to the Federal Bureau of Investigations if the judge signed an order transferring a civil matter that Cantu had filed from one court to another.

Cantu told Texas Lawyer that the allegations are frivolous, and he plans to fight them.

Loaded weapon

Dallas-area attorney Petrina Thompson. Photo: Denton County Jail

When Dallas attorney Petrina Thompson on Nov. 15 lost her new job as an associate at a small Denton law firm, she did not take the news well.

While packing up her belongings, she went to her car and returned with a gun. Thompson pointed the gun at the paralegal in the office, who ran out the front door as the weapon fired, said a police affidavit. Thompson then chased the firm's solo practitioner out the back door and around the building. Another staff member of the firm pulled up in his car, and Thompson pointed the weapon at him too. She then fled in her green Lexus, but police pulled her over, and found ammunition and the weapon, which was jammed.

Thompson was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.