--- title: In the Matter of Vincent Chidozie Otuonye collection: opinions id: S20Y1265 cite_as: In the Matter of Vincent Chidozie Otuonye, 847 S.E.2d 193 (2020) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20Y1265 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20Y1265.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20Y1265/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10367413/in-the-matter-of-vincent-chidozie-otuonye/ date: 2020-08-10 status: published corpus_version: opinions-2026-09-14 license: Public record of the Supreme Court of Georgia, via CourtListener and the court's own website; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/2020.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20A0739.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20Y0869.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1204 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20Y1265.md?full=1 docket: S20Y1265 citation: 847 S.E.2d 193 court: Supreme Court of Georgia case_type: bar discipline authoring_justice: Per Curiam disposition: Voluntary surrender of license accepted vote: All the Justices concur word_count: 370 date_filed_source: courtlistener citations: - 309 Ga. 584 record_source: courtlistener legal_areas: - professional discipline - criminal law upstream_id: "10367413" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Vincent Chidozie Otuonye Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S20Y1265, filed 2020-08-10, 847 S.E.2d 193. ## Opinion FINAL COPY 309 Ga. 584 S20Y1265. IN THE MATTER OF VINCENT CHIDOZIE OTUONYE. PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by Vincent Chidozie Otuonye (State Bar No. 555470), who has been a member of the Bar since June 2000. Otuonye was convicted in the Superior Court of Mitchell County on one felony count of Criminal Attempt to Furnish Prohibited Items (tobacco) to Inmates in violation of OCGA § 42-5-18, and sentenced to five years, serve two. Thereafter, this Court accepted his petition for voluntary suspension of license pending appeal. See In the Matter of Otuonye, 302 Ga. 374 (806 SE2d 524) (2017). The Court of Appeals ultimately affirmed his criminal convictions in an unpublished opinion. See Otuonye v. State, 350 Ga. App. XXVI (Case No. A19A0437) (May 30, 2019), cert. denied, S19C1443 (Jan. 13, 2020). After notifying the State Bar about the result of his appeal, Otuonye filed this petition for voluntary surrender of his license, which he acknowledges is tantamount to disbarment. In the petition, Otuonye admits that he violated Rule 8.4 (a) (2) (lawyer shall not be convicted of a felony) of Bar Rule 4-102 (d); admits that the conduct for which he was convicted warrants disbarment, see In the Matter of Jones, 293 Ga. 264, 266 (744 SE2d 6) (2013) (finding that misdemeanor violations of OCGA § 42-4- 13 (e) for carrying items (tobacco) across the guard line at a jail involved “moral turpitude” and warranted disbarment); and asks this Court to accept his petition. The State Bar has responded, agreeing with the facts as described in the petition and asking this Court to accept it. We have reviewed the record and accept Otuonye’s petition for the voluntary surrender of his license. Accordingly, the name Vincent Chidozie Otuonye hereby is removed from the rolls of persons entitled to practice law in the State of Georgia. Otuonye is reminded of his duties under Bar Rule 4-219 (b). Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. DECIDED AUGUST 10, 2020. Voluntary surrender of license. Paula J. Frederick, General Counsel State Bar, Jenny K. Mittelman, James S. Lewis, Assistant General Counsel State Bar, for State Bar of Georgia. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the opinion above and is not part of the court's opinion. Quote the opinion, not the summary. The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted an Albany-area attorney's request to give up his law license after his felony conviction for trying to smuggle tobacco to jail inmates was upheld on appeal. ### Plain-language summary Vincent Chidozie Otuonye, a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 2000, was convicted in Mitchell County Superior Court of a felony for attempting to bring prohibited tobacco items to inmates at a jail. The Supreme Court of Georgia had earlier let him suspend his law license while he appealed, but the Court of Appeals of Georgia upheld his conviction and the Georgia Supreme Court declined further review. After that final loss on appeal, Otuonye asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to accept his voluntary surrender of his law license, which he acknowledged amounts to disbarment. He admitted his felony conviction violated the bar rule barring lawyers from being convicted of a felony, and that his conduct warranted disbarment. The State Bar agreed, and the court accepted the surrender, removing him from the rolls of lawyers allowed to practice in Georgia. ### Holding, as summarized The court held that Otuonye's felony conviction for attempting to furnish prohibited tobacco to inmates violated the bar rule against felony convictions and warranted disbarment, so his petition to voluntarily surrender his law license, treated as equivalent to disbarment, was accepted. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters The decision permanently bars Otuonye from practicing law in Georgia, protecting the public and the legal profession from an attorney convicted of a felony involving smuggling contraband into a jail, and reinforces that such convictions warrant disbarment. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,204 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20Y1265.md?full=1