Sobbing Vegas attorney talks of suicide, depression at disbarment hearing

Defense lawyer Brian Bloomfield testified that he contemplated suicide in the months after his guilty plea in a high-profile courthouse fraud.

“There were a lot of days when I didn’t know if I was going to make it,” Bloomfield tearfully told a disciplinary panel of the State Bar of Nevada Friday.

He said he would sit with a revolver in a closet in his home, “wondering if this was the way to go.”

Prior to his own thoughts of suicide, his wife Amber McDearmon, who also pleaded guilty in the courthouse scheme, tried to kill herself, Bloomfield said.

Bloomfield testified that he has since undergone psychological counseling and takes medication for anxiety and depression while earning $9 an hour in a telemarketing call room to support his wife and three young children.

His revelations came during an emotional, day-long hearing worthy of a soap opera script as Bloomfield sobbed his way through several of hours of testimony, admitting wrongdoing and begging to keep his law license.

Temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court a year ago, Bloomfield filed or helped file forged records in 91 cases that falsely claimed a client had completed counseling or community service.

Bloomfield, who once had a successful practice defending prostitutes, attacked what he called the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s spiteful coverage of his involvement in the courthouse scheme.

His parents sat quietly in the audience and listened to it all.

The disciplinary panel said Monday it needed more time to decide whether Bloomfield’s criminal conduct rises to a level deserving permanent disbarment.

“There’s no justification for what I did sir,” a weeping Bloomfield told State Bar Counsel David Clark, who questioned him Friday. “I used extremely poor judgment. It’s something I will have to live with the rest of my life.”

Under questioning from William Terry, his own lawyer, Bloomfield said he was “ashamed” of his actions, but was a changed man who wanted a second chance to prove it.

“I really, really love practicing law,” he said, wiping away tears with a tissue. “I really miss being at the courthouse. It kills me every day.”

Two of his good friends, veteran lawyers Sigal Chattah and Gary Guymon, also broke into tears as they testified as character witnesses imploring the five-member panel not to recommend disbarring Bloomfield.

Chattah blamed Bloomfield’s “junkie” wife for his troubles with the law.

“I’m sorry Brian, I should have said this to him years ago,” a choked-up Chattah told the disciplinary panel. “The core of his problems came from being married to such a wreck.”

Chattah described Bloomfield, who obtained his Nevada law license in 2003, as a talented lawyer who simply found himself cutting corners while dealing with McDearmon’s drug addiction and trying to keep his career together.

Later, Clark asked Bloomfield if he agreed with Chattah’s assessment. Bloomfield responded that he didn’t want to answer the question in the presence of a reporter, but acknowledged that his wife “had to overcome a lot of demons in her life.”

Guymon, a former prosecutor and public defender, testified that Bloomfield’s troubles were ego-driven.

“He got too big for his britches too soon,” Guymon said, adding he had no doubt Bloomfield would come back a better lawyer.

Guymon, who said he was willing to serve as Bloomfield’s professional mentor, was charged in a misdemeanor theft case in Utah several years ago. He ended up pleading no contest to trespassing and was given a letter of caution by the State Bar.

Former Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo, who lost a reelection bid in 2010 after facing domestic violence charges, waited outside the hearing as a character witness, but left without testifying.

Terry sought a three-year suspension for a “remorseful” Bloomfield and other sanctions short of disbarment. He submitted more than 140 letters of support for Bloomfield.

But Clark, who said he doubted Bloomfield was a changed man, argued that disbarment was tailor-made for Bloomfield’s crimes — which involved filing false court documents, lying to judges and prosecutors and destroying evidence against him.

“This cuts to the heart of what we do,” Clark told the panel. “The public integrity of the court system has been impugned. He put in jeopardy the entire court process.”

The disciplinary panel has 30 days from Friday’s hearing to recommend to the Nevada Supreme Court whether Bloomfield should lose his license to practice law.

In December 2013, Bloomfield pleaded guilty to felony and gross misdemeanor charges in the counseling scheme and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against his co-defendants.

Bloomfield was accused of providing prostitutes and other criminal clients, including McDearmon, with phony certificates of completion for court-ordered counseling and community service to resolve misdemeanor cases in Las Vegas Justice Court. He also was charged with destroying client files to cover his actions.

In a complaint against Bloomfield earlier this year, Clark alleged Bloomfield’s role in the scheme violated nearly a dozen professional rules of conduct.

Though he pleaded guilty 18 months ago, Bloomfield has not been sentenced because he agreed to testify against the other defendants, one of whom is still waiting trial.

The criminal case dates to December 2011, when Bloomfield, former counseling service owner Steven Brox and juvenile probation officer Robert Chiodini were charged in a county indictment with carrying out the scheme as far back as 2008.

McDearmon and former bail bondsman Thomas Jaskol were subsequently indicted, with added charges they conspired with Bloomfield to destroy evidence.

All but Brox eventually pleaded guilty. His trial is set for Sept. 8.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ