Stanislaus prosecutor calls for independent review of attorney accused of sex act with client

A prosecutor on Tuesday told a judge that there is a potential conflict of interest involving a defense attorney accused of engaging in a sexual act with her client inside the Stanislaus County Jail.

Amber Lunsford, a Sacramento-based defense attorney, has denied the allegations, and she told the judge there is no conflict of interest in representing Johnny Montalvo. The judge agreed that there is no conflict.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson has revoked Lunsford’s access to inmates at the county’s jail facilities, he says, after a deputy caught the attorney and Montalvo engaged in a sexual act in a jail meeting room Nov. 19.

Authorities say Montalvo is a Norteño street gang member, and he is charged with murder and a series of takeover-style robberies. The defendant appeared with his attorney in court Tuesday morning.

Deputy District Attorney Tom Brennan asked the judge to appoint an independent attorney to review the case and determine whether there is a conflict of interest. The prosecutor argued that any conviction against Montalvo could be overturned in the appellate court because of a conflict of interest.

Brennan handed the judge a printout of an email he says he received from Lunsford on Dec. 3. Lunsford wrote in the email that she was removing herself from all of Montalvo’s cases because there was a conflict of interest, according to the prosecutor.

“After further review, there is no conflict,” Lunsford told the judge when the prosecutor introduced the Dec. 3 email.

Brennan also argued that he could be called as a witness in a potential State Bar of California disciplinary hearing for Lunsford. The defense attorney said the prosecutor should remove himself from the case if he’s a potential witness.

“That very well may happen,” Brennan told the judge. “But nothing has happened yet.”

It’s unclear whether the allegations against Lunsford would be considered an ethics violation in California. The State Bar says attorneys can have sex with their clients as long as:

▪ The attorney is not exchanging legal services for sex.

▪ The attorney is not using coercion in entering the sexual relationship.

▪ The attorney doesn’t provide incompetent legal services because of the sexual relationship.

▪ The attorney doesn’t represent the client, but his or her law firm does.

▪ The attorney already had a sexual relationship with the client before representing the client.

Tuesday, Lunsford told the judge there is nothing that would prevent her from providing an adequate defense for her client. Montalvo also told the judge there is no conflict of interest, and he is “very confident” in Lunsford’s legal representation.

Judge Scott Steffen ruled there was no conflict of interest and scheduled the case to proceed March 2 with a pretrial hearing. Montalvo and Joe Luis Ramirez are accused of home-invasion robbery. Both remain in custody at the jail.

The sheriff has said he sent a letter to the State Bar of California, describing the claimed incident. He sent similar letters to Stanislaus Superior Court Presiding Judge Loretta Begen and to Steffen, the criminal court’s supervising judge.

The court has not taken any action against Lunsford and would have to review any further information before taking any action. The court appointed Lunsford to represent Montalvo after his attorney unexpectedly died from an illness. The taxpayers pay for Lunsford’s legal services because Montalvo is an indigent client.

Lunsford has told The Bee she hired Modesto defense attorney Mary Lynn Belsher to speak on her behalf.

Belsher has suggested that the allegations could be retaliation against Lunsford, who has challenged in court some recently implemented jail restrictions. She asked the court to step in because the jail policies always were changing and prevented her from adequately defending Montalvo, according to a writ of mandate she filed in April.

This story was originally published January 13, 2015 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Stanislaus prosecutor calls for independent review of attorney accused of sex act with client."