CINCINNATI — Days after the Kentucky Supreme Court rejected Ben Dusing's petition to return to the practice of law, the high-profile Northern Kentucky defense lawyer lost his quest to be a family court judge in Kenton County.
The court temporarily suspended Dusing Feb. 24 after a three-month review of allegations that he used amphetamines during a former client’s criminal trial in New York last year and threatened two attorneys in a Facebook post last November.
After the suspension, Dusing launched a campaign for judge, traveled twice to Poland to assist Ukrainian refugees, underwent a mental health evaluation and successfully challenged a court ruling that declared his family court candidacy invalid.
That allowed Dusing to run in Tuesday's primary against Carl Knochelmann and Terry King Schoborg. Dusing finished third in that contest with 12% of the vote. Schoborg finished first with 62%.
Dusing declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling.
The Kentucky Bar Association opposed Dusing’s return in an April 29 filing that alleged Dusing “engaged in threatening conduct” after his Feb. 24 suspension and “failed to provide material information” to a mental health professional hired to evaluate whether he posed a threat to others.
The evaluation by Dr. Paul Anthony Ebben found “no compelling evidence he poses a physical threat to anyone” and no mental health issues that “preclude capacity to function” as an attorney, according to Dusing’s April 19 petition.
Dusing cited his humanitarian work in Poland and his Kenton Court candidacy as reasons for the Supreme Court to let him resume the practice of law.
In the end, the court sided with the Bar Association.
“Even disregarding the new allegations and evidence presented by the KBA in response to Dusing’s petition and accepting the psychological evaluation report as accurate, the record reflects allegations of egregious and substantial misconduct by Dusing that have not been fully resolved,” the Supreme Court unanimously ruled. “If disciplinary proceedings have not already begun, they must be initiated within thirty days.”
If that doesn’t happen, Dusing’s request to dissolve the suspension will be referred to a “special commissioner for a hearing.”
