Eighteen months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court sent Joseph Corcoran’s case back to the lower courts for the second time, effectively reinstating the death penalty against him.An Albion-based attorney will have her law license suspended for at least one year because she tried to sneak a woman into a local jail to see her boyfriend, according to the Indiana Supreme Court.
Anna E. Fulkerson, 41, will begin her suspension Oct. 13 and will have to petition the Supreme Court to be reinstated. She could not be reached for comment late Monday afternoon.
In 2007, she tried to pass off one of her clients as her own private investigator – even using her own investigator’s name for the woman. From there, she was accused of sneaking the woman into a secure area of the Noble County Jail. The woman was caught and Fulkerson was charged with a felony count of aiding in identity deception.
She eventually pleaded to resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, as part of a plea agreement but apparently did not provide enough remorse for the satisfaction of the Supreme Court.
“In her memorandum addressing her misconduct, Respondent does not acknowledge that she lied about Former Client’s identity and attempted to get her into a secure area of the jail,” reads the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend Fulkerson. “Rather, she minimizes her misconduct, stating that she was accused of attempting to help Former Client visit the inmate in the visitor’s area.”
Fulkerson also neglected a client who was trying to adopt her grandchildren in 2005 and failed twice to adequately file paperwork during a bankruptcy case in 2007, according to Supreme Court documents. She never told her clients the result of that bankruptcy case in 2007, according to the documents.
She told the Supreme Court she is a recovering alcoholic and sought help from the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program in 2007, according to court documents. She is receiving medical care and counseling, according to the documents.
Fulkerson said the incident at the jail occurred after she had been drinking and had received treatment for neck pain, according to the court documents.
Anna E. Fulkerson, 41, will begin her suspension Oct. 13 and will have to petition the Supreme Court to be reinstated.
