Ethics
Lawyer gets stayed suspension for fake blog comments
A Colorado lawyer has received a stayed 60-day suspension for posing as a judge and a former deputy district attorney in blog comments last year. (Image from Shutterstock)
Updated: A Colorado lawyer has received a stayed 60-day suspension for posing as a judge and a former deputy district attorney in blog comments last year.
The suspension for Ahad Ali Khilji of Colorado will be stayed if he successfully completes a probationary period of two years, according an Aug. 22 decision by the Colorado presiding disciplinary judge, which approved a stipulation to discipline.
The Legal Profession Blog noted the decision.
According to the decision, Khilji submitted the comments to a moderator for a blog called Much Ado About Something. The blog posted screenshots of the comments in May 2023.
Khilji was a former public defender in Grand Junction, Colorado, when he wrote the remarks. One comment that was attributed to a Mesa County, Colorado, judge read: “Da got that dope.” The other, attributed to a former deputy district attorney, read: “Shut the f- – – up.”
Khilji created email addresses to impersonate the judge and the former deputy district attorney when he submitted the comments, according to the disciplinary decision. One email address was “hottubtimemachine@gmail.com,” according to the stipulation to discipline cited by Law360. The other happened to be the actual email address of the ex-prosecutor.
Khilji told an investigator that the comments were a joke, and he didn’t think that they would be posted, according to Law360. He acknowledged, however, that the comments were inappropriate, and he sent apology letters to the judge and the former prosecutor he impersonated.
The Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel lists Khilji as a lawyer with the Colorado Legal Defense Group in Loveland, Colorado.
Khilji did not immediately respond to an email and a text message seeking comment.
Updated Aug. 27 at 8:30 a.m. to include information from Law360.
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