Los Angeles lawyer accused of using resentencing law to profit off inmates and their families

A Los Angeles lawyer faces potential penalties for allegedly profiting from families hoping to reduce their relatives' sentences.

"Offering false hope to those in dire straits for one's own financial gain is contrary to a lawyer's responsibilities," Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona said. "This principle underlies the Notice of Disciplinary Charges, which alleges that Mr. Spolin misled and withheld information from prisoners and their families to convince them to pay him for services that provided them no relief."

Lawyer Aaron Spolin faces 18 disciplinary charges from the State Bar of California for repeatedly charging inmates and their families to file resentencing requests under a 6-year-old law, even though they did not meet the criteria outlined by the Los Angeles and Orange County district attorneys. 

In 2018, AB 2942 allowed California district attorneys to recommend the recall and resentencing of certain crimes. After the bill became law, the LA County District Attorney's Office announced that it would not accept applications from attorneys or the public. Instead, it would only select cases based on specific guidelines and would only consider nonviolent crimes. As for the Orange County District Attorney, the office would only consider requests from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, according to the State Bar. 

Despite receiving at least nine letters from the LADA and at least eight from the OCDA, Spolin continued to file these requests and charged at least three families for his services.

In LA County, Spolin allegedly advised a man — who was serving a 160-year to life sentence for several violent felonies — and his sister to pursue a resentencing request. The attorney failed to inform his client that the request would most likely be denied since he was convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery, two violent felonies barring him under the District Attorney's guidelines. The California Bar claimed Spolin charged the prisoner's sister $17,700 for the case review and resentencing request.

Spolin also advised a convicted murderer and his sister to do the same thing even though the LA County District Attorney repeatedly told him it would not consider those requests. Spolin received $26,700 from the prisoner's sister for his services. 

In Orange County, Spolin charged a prisoner's wife $28,500 for the same services despite the District Attorney telling him eight times that they only process requests from the CDCR.

Spolin's profile on State Bar's website shows that this is the first set of disciplinary charges filed against him in his 8-year-old law career.