Thomas F. Patch, an attorney from Hingham convicted in 2006 of criminal harassment, will no longer be able to practice law in Massachusetts after the state Supreme Court upheld Monday a decision by the Board of Bar Overseers to disbar him, vacating an earlier suspension.
The court dismissed a technical appeal Patch lodged against the bar counsel's record-keeping and "did not make any findings or rulings regarding the respondent's psychological issues," according to the decision, published on Westlaw Oct. 21.
"The respondent's counsel argued, among other things, that the respondent had serious psychological issues. However, no evidence, expert or otherwise, was submitted at the hearing to support a claim that his misconduct was mitigated by these issues,"
Patch represented himself.
He practiced law in Plymouth after being admitted to the bar in 1987. In 2004, according to the decision, Patch was suspended from practicing for three months based on contempt citations he received during his divorce proceedings.
Then in 2006 Patch served 30 months in jail after being convicted of criminal harassment and then violating his probation. He was subsequently convicted of witness intimidation after sending a threatening letter to a Cambridge doctor, according to the Boston Globe.
Patch ran for a seat on the Hingham Planning Board in 2010, shortly after his release from jail. He lost that race to incumbent Susan C. Murphy by a wide margin, the Globe reported.
"The intimidation charge was based on a seven-page letter he wrote in September 2006 to Dr. Joseph Doherty of Cambridge, who had been appointed by Hingham District Court to conduct a psychological evaluation of Patch," according to the Globe. "The evaluation was ordered after Patch was convicted of criminal harassment in March 2006 in an incident involving a woman he once dated."
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