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Correction: This story and headline about attorney and state Rep. Nick Mackey in Thursday's Observer incorrectly said the N.C. State Bar had accused him of not paying taxes in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The bar actually accused him of failing to file those tax returns “at the times required by state and federal law.” The complaint also said that before taking the bar exam, Mackey failed to disclose that he hadn't paid income taxes in several prior years “at the times such taxes were due.” Mackey said Friday he has filed all his tax returns. Asked whether there were any state or federal taxes due that haven't been paid, he declined to comment while the bar complaint is pending.
In a rare and wide-ranging complaint, the N.C. State Bar has accused state Rep. Nick Mackey of “criminal acts” for failing to file four years of state and federal income tax returns.
The bar also accused him of unprofessional conduct. Among other things, it claims that Mackey failed to disclose that he was twice suspended as a Charlotte police officer, once for allegedly lying to a police review board.
The allegations, spelled out in seven-page bar complaint made public Tuesday, could lead to the Charlotte lawyer's suspension or even disbarment. It's unclear whether Mackey, a Democrat, could also face criminal charges.
Referring to the tax charges, bar counsel Katherine Jean wrote in the complaint that Mackey “committed criminal acts that reflect adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer.”
Mackey has 20 days to respond, then could face a disciplinary hearing.
“I'm not going to comment on it since it's pending,” he told the Observer on Wednesday. Mackey has previously denied any wrongdoing at the Police Department.
Mackey, 42, rose to prominence during his bid for sheriff in 2007. He won a special local Democratic Party election to fill a vacancy, only to have it overturned when the state party found irregularities in how the Mecklenburg party had organized precincts.
But the race left lingering tensions. Mackey supporters said he had played by the rules and was unfairly scrutinized. Mackey went on to overwhelmingly win election to the N.C. House in November.
In his first term, he has introduced several bills, including measures on cyber-bullying, identity theft and legalized marijuana use for medical purposes.
House Speaker Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said Wednesday that the House will review the bar's charges. “The facts alleged are things that are obviously not proper conduct,” Hackney said. “We will be looking into it and will see what the situation calls for.”
If a complaint is raised within the General Assembly, the Legislative Ethics Committee would investigate and could take no action or seek consequences, such as a reprimand or possible expulsion.
The bar complaint is Mackey's latest legal hurdle.
Last October, the state bar – the regulatory agency that oversees North Carolina's 26,000 lawyers – reprimanded Mackey for “professional misconduct” in a domestic case. The reprimand said Mackey failed to appear in court and communicate with his client, and attempted to collect an “excessive” fee.
In April, a Wake County judge ordered the N.C. Department of Revenue to give the bar 11 years of Mackey's tax records.
The latest complaint was filed with the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission. According to bar policy, cases go to the commission when a grievance committee finds that the “conduct is serious enough that the lawyer's license to practice law should be suspended or the lawyer should be disbarred.”
In 2007, fewer than two dozen of the 1,500 grievances filed with the bar ended up before the commission.
The commission conducts hearings that resemble a trial and can take action ranging from dismissing the complaint to suspending or disbarring the lawyer.
The bar's complaint alleges that Mackey:
Failed to pay taxes from 2003 through 2006.
“Mackey's failure to file the required federal and state income tax returns on a timely basis … was willful,” Jean wrote, adding that such conduct is a misdemeanor under both state and federal law.
State tax officials declined to say whether they're investigating, and federal officials could not be reached Wednesday.
Failed to disclose to law examiners earlier unpaid taxes before he took the state bar exam in 2002. Specifically, the complaint says he didn't tell them he hadn't paid federal taxes in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2002, or state taxes in three of those years.
Violated professional conduct rules in a case involving a client named Morris Chisholm, who wanted to adopt his 17-year-old stepdaughter.
“Mackey failed to reasonably communicate with Chisholm … (and) failed to monitor the progress of the adoption,” Jean wrote in the complaint.
Chisholm missed the deadline to adopt the girl before her 18th birthday. A court awarded Chisholm a judgment against Mackey for $1,000, Mackey's fee in the case.
Didn't tell law examiners that, as a Charlotte police officer, he had been “suspended without pay for lying” in 1991 during a department investigation of his “improper conduct” at an off-duty security job, the complaint says.
He also failed to disclose, according to the complaint, that he was the subject of a 2002 police investigation focusing on the “abuse of comp time” and the fabrication of daily reports that gave Mackey and another officer credit for time they hadn't worked.
Mackey was suspended without pay in February 2003 and recommended to the Civil Service Board for firing, the complaint says. He resigned in June 2003.
One bill Mackey introduced in the legislature this session is called the Law Enforcement Officer Legal Rights Protection Act. It would allow a police officer under internal investigation to be represented by a member of his chosen employee organization.
Staff writer Mark Johnson contributed.
Jim Morrill: 704-358-5059
