JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the law license of a member of a powerful Missouri commission that deals with abortion rules and other regulatory disputes.
Judges on the state's high court ruled unanimously to suspend Administrative Hearing Commissioner Philip Prewitt indefinitely. He can apply to be reinstated in two years.
The suspension is related to allegations made against Prewitt during his time as an associate circuit judge in Macon County.
The court found that Prewitt, a Republican, abused his position as a judge by threatening to reveal details of affairs that Democratic challenger Kristen Burks' husband had in hopes of dissuading her from running against him in 2018.
Court records show the FBI eventually got involved and asked Burks to wear a recorder while confronting Prewitt at a local restaurant about an anonymous letter to her daughter that “crudely described her husband's infidelity.”
Prewitt told Burks that he didn't write the letter but that he would publicly talk about the extramarital affairs if Burks didn't drop out of the judge's race, according to a transcript of the conversation included in the Supreme Court ruling.
“If you don’t run, no, I’m not going to talk about it,” Prewitt said. “But if you do, yes, it’s going to be everywhere.”
During that conversation, Prewitt threatened to reveal information about the affairs that he said he learned from a former legal client of his, which the Supreme Court wrote would violate confidentiality rules between lawyers and their clients. Prewitt also said he would file an ethics complaint against Burks if she officially entered the race.
“Prewitt knew attempting to coerce Burks through the threat of filing the ethics complaint was not acceptable for a lawyer or a judge,” Supreme Court judges wrote. “He knew revealing confidential information regarding a former client was impermissible. His actions caused potential injury to his former client and the legal system.”
Burks in March 2018 filed a complaint against Prewitt with the Judicial Commission based on the bugged conversation. She ultimately unseated him while running as an independent.
Prewitt said he didn't bring up the affair during the campaign because of the pending complaint, according to the Supreme Court ruling.
Prewitt declined to comment and referred The Associated Press to his lawyer, Michael Gross, who told AP he had not yet read the ruling against Prewitt.
Prewitt has told the Supreme Court that he did not break ethics rules and argued he should not be punished.
A spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who appointed Prewitt to the Administrative Hearing Commission in 2019, did not immediately respond to an AP inquiry about whether he supports Prewitt serving the remainder of his term.
This is not the first time the Supreme Court has ruled against Prewitt for misconduct.
The Missouri Supreme Court in 2015 reprimanded him in part for threatening a candidate for local circuit clerk if she did not take down a yard sign supporting his opponent.
“This similar misconduct suggests an unwillingness by Prewitt to recognize and alter his behavior," Supreme Court judges wrote in their Tuesday ruling. "Prewitt was acting with a selfish motive, attempting to retain his position by any means. Prewitt refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing.”
The 2015 reprimand also dealt with him encouraging people to donate to local charities on Facebook, including Ray of Hope Pregnancy Care Ministries, an anti-abortion nonprofit. That raised questions about his impartiality on the Administrative Hearing Commission, which before most abortions were banned in Missouri played a large role in access to abortions in the state.
When Parson appointed Prewitt to the Administrative Hearing Commission in 2019, a former spokesman of the governor noted that the governor was aware of the reprimand but noted that the Supreme Court did not go further to suspend or revoke his license.
