RSOL cited in article about KY registrant
Feb. 5, 2014
A University of Kentucky law school graduate who finished in the top third of his class is asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision barring him from taking the bar exam because he’s on the state sex-offender registry.
The court ruled unanimously in December that Guy Padraic Hamilton-Smith can’t apply to take the test until he goes off the registry in 2027 — when he’s 44 years old — because he is listed for possession of child pornography, which the court described as one the most “iniquitous of crimes.”
The justices said it would put the “character and integrity of the bar itself” at risk if Hamilton-Smith relapsed — or even if a client discovered he’s on the registry.
Supporters of Hamilton-Smith, who graduated in 2011 after competing on UK’s prestigious national moot-court team, said he’s done everything possible to rehabilitate himself since his conviction four years earlier on one count of possession of possessing materials portraying a sexual performance by a minor.
Therapist Susan Smith, who treated Hamilton-Smith and has worked with other sex offenders and victims for 22 years, told the the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions Character and Fitness Committee that Hamilton-Smith poses no threat to anyone and would make a “wonderful lawyer.” (See The Courier-Journal for full story)
