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As former Judge Rudy Delgado appeals his conviction in his judicial bribery case, the Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals has suspended his law license.

Delgado is incarcerated in federal prison to serve a 60-month sentence for his eight convictions for conspiracy, federal program bribery, travel act violations and obstruction of justice.

Delgado's case was one of the attorney disciplinary matters that the State Bar of Texas released publicly Friday. The list recounted two disbarments, 10 suspensions or probated suspensions, three public reprimands and eight private reprimands.

The disciplinary appeals board on Feb. 4 signed an interlocutory order of suspension against Delgado, noting in the order that the board will keep jurisdiction over the case until Delgado's criminal appeal is over.

Delgado's criminal-defense attorney, Michael McCrum of San Antonio, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Here's a look at the other discipline cases made public on the March list.

Disbarments

Kirk Lawrence Brannan

Houston solo practitioner Kirk Lawrence Brannan, who is serving a 36-month federal prison sentence for a bank fraud conviction, was disbarred Jan. 31 by the Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals. The board had already suspended Brannan from practicing law in July 2019, as he was appealing his conviction. However, he lost his appeal in August 2019. Texas Lawyer couldn't contact Brannan because he is incarcerated.

Joe Jesse Ponce III

In recent months, two district courts in San Antonio issued judgments against San Antonio attorney Joe Jesse Ponce III. The first found he had violated terms of a 2017 partially probated suspension. It suspended his law license for 11 months, running through October 2020. But the suspension became moot with the other district court's action, which disbarred Ponce on Feb. 18.

Court records show that Ponce subleased office space from another attorney's law firm and provided legal services to some of that attorney's clients. The other lawyer represented a woman whose husband had died in a car collision. When the woman visited the law office to discuss her case with her lawyer, she was directed to meet with Ponce instead. Court records charge that Ponce made misrepresentations and got the woman to sign a contingency fee contract with him, even though her contract with her existing lawyer already assigned part of her recovery to that attorney. Ponce didn't tell the woman about the consequences of signing a second contract. The court found he improperly solicited the woman to hire him. He then neglected the matter and didn't keep the client informed about the case, according to the information in the ethics charges against him. The woman terminated him, and Ponce failed to provide a copy of her client file, according to the court documents.

Ponce didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Scott Douglas Marquardt

A grievance committee disbarred McKinney solo practitioner Scott Marquardt Aug. 23, 2019. The judgment in the case said a client hired Marquardt for a custody modification case in October 2016. Marquardt didn't keep his client informed about the case, or respond to her requests for information. The client terminated him, but Marquardt didn't withdraw from the representation in a timely manner, according to the court filing. The attorney failed to give the client an itemized statement, and did not return papers, property and his unearned fee to the client.

A receptionist at the phone number for Marquardt's law office said he no longer works there, and she did not know how to reach him.

Suspensions

Emmerico T. Nepomuceno

A grievance committee in December 2019 issued a probated suspension against Houston solo practitioner Emmerico T. Nepomuceno to resolve two grievances by separate clients. Both of the grievances involved identical findings: Nepomuceno failed to abide by the client's decision whether to accept a settlement. He didn't explain the legal matter to his client well enough for her to make a decision about the representation. Nepomuceno also failed to deliver funds to third parties promptly. He also failed to ensure that a nonlawyer whom he directly supervised was acting in a way that complied with his professional obligations. He permitted a nonlawyer's conduct that would have been an ethical violation by a lawyer, according to the complaints. Nepomuceno's probation runs from Jan. 2 to Dec. 31.

Nepomuceno didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Ronald T. Spriggs

A client hired Amarillo solo practitioner Ronald T. Spriggs for representation with a felony charge, according to court documents. Spriggs failed to appear in court for the client's trial and didn't refund his unearned fee upon termination. The disciplinary appeals board on Jan. 31 affirmed a grievance committee's decision to suspend Spriggs' law license from Aug. 1, 2019, to Oct. 29, 2019, and then placed him on probation through July 31, 2021.

Spriggs didn't answer a call seeking comment, and his voicemail system wouldn't accept a message.

Tametha D'Lyn Barker

Amarillo solo practitioner Tametha D'Lyn Barker was suspended from practicing law through November 2022, after a client hired her in a parental rights termination case and she failed to appear for a court hearing and failed to complete any legal work for the client, among other things, according to allegations in the ethics case against her.

No one answered the phone at the number that Barker listed on her State Bar of Texas profile.

Kaushik Rambhotla

Two disciplinary cases against San Antonio lawyer Kaushik Rambhotla were resolved on Jan. 22 when a grievance committee suspended his law license for six months starting on Jan. 15. The remainder of his 42-month suspension will be probated. The judgment in his case said that a client paid more than $6,000 to Rambhotla to represent her in a divorce. One year and eight months later, the client terminated him because he still had not finalized the divorce. Rambhotla didn't give the ex-client an invoice or returned her unearned fee or her file.

Another client hired him to probate her mother's estate, because a prior executor had taken property improperly. Rambhotla didn't adequately explain to the client what legal action to take to recover the property. She asked for her file back, and he didn't comply.

Rambhotla didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Other attorneys who faced law license suspensions or probation were included on the March discipline list. Click their names to read the judgments in their cases.

Reprimands

The March discipline list included three public reprimands and private reprimands issued to eight attorneys. Click the lawyer's name to download the public reprimand judgments.

Read the March list: