Legal Work For Marijuana? Court Says No, Suspends Lawyer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana lawyer who worked in exchange for marijuana has been suspended from practice for a year. The state's Supreme Court rejected a disciplinary board's recommendation to let attorney James Mecca keep working.

Mecca pleaded guilty in 2014 to a misdemeanor first-offence charge of possessing marijuana in 2013. His six-month jail sentence was suspended and he has served a year of probation.

The license suspension is a separate matter.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office set up a sting after an informant reported that she'd paid Mecca earlier in marijuana, and he had offered to represent her again for the "same old, same old."

Two justices recommended lighter measures Friday, noting that Mecca cooperated with investigators and went through drug treatment.

A third justice said he deserved harsher discipline.