Trump-supporting attorney Lin Wood disbarred in Colorado's federal trial court

Colorado's federal trial court on Thursday disbarred an attorney who spoke favorably about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, called for former Vice President Mike Pence to be subjected to firing squads and claimed he had evidence of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

The penalty imposed on L. Lin Wood was based on Wood's decision to retire as a lawyer earlier this year in the face of a misconduct investigation in Georgia that could have resulted in his disbarment. Pursuant to the rules of Colorado's U.S. District Court, attorneys may be disbarred or suspended if they resign during any state or federal court investigation into their alleged misconduct.

According to a Dec. 14 order, the court's Committee on Conduct notified Wood in mid-October it was recommending his disbarment based on the Georgia proceedings. Wood did not respond to the threat of discipline. When the committee followed up to ask if Wood wanted to address his impending discipline, he sent a scathing email accusing the court of "persecuting a follower of Jesus Christ and a supporter of President Trump."

"I have been afforded NO due process by the Committee. I have committed no ethical violation and am guilty of no wrongdoing," he wrote.

"Mr. Wood claims that he was 'afforded NO due process,'" the order read, "but he does not explain why his opportunity to respond to the Committee's recommendation is not sufficient due process. Moreover, he asks for no additional process in his response."

A three-member panel consisting of Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer and Judges Regina M. Rodriguez and Charlotte N. Sweeney signed off on the disbarment order.

Wood, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, drew scrutiny at the time of the Jan. 6 attack for urging people to "ignore Pence & Biden. Listen only to President Trump," and advocating to "Get the firing squads ready. Pence goes FIRST."

Wood also spread rumors that there would be a "coup" to execute Trump and his followers, and claimed in a court filing that he possessed "a considerable amount of evidence of election fraud."

This summer, Wood asked Georgia to "retire" his law license as disciplinary proceedings against him proceeded in his home state. Georgia's bar granted his request, saying he could not practice in any other state or jurisdiction, Bloomberg Law reported.

The panel's order in Colorado described how another lawyer filed a misconduct complaint against Wood in the U.S. District Court in January 2021, based on statements Wood made after the Capitol attack. A disciplinary subcommittee opted to monitor the Georgia proceedings instead, given the overlap between the two.

Colorado's federal court requires attorneys to remain in good standing wherever they practice and to notify the court if that is not the case. Wood, who litigated a handful of cases in Colorado's U.S. District Court two decades ago, did not alert the court of his retirement from the Georgia bar.

"If I found out even by a newspaper article that someone has been suspended or disbarred, I’m obligated to apply the rule of good standing," said Mark Fredrickson, secretary of the Committee on Conduct, during a legal discussion earlier this year.

Wood, in his email response to the impending discipline, called the disbarment "lawfare," "communism" and a "smear."

"Let me go my way in retirement and the Committee can go its way," he wrote.

Nothing in Wood's email, the panel responded, "is responsive to the Committee's reasons for its recommendation or provides a persuasive reason not to disbar Mr. Wood."

In an email to Colorado Politics, Wood said, "The order is errant nonsense as I am retired and have not practiced law in Colorado in over 20 years. This order is simply more communist persecution of a supporter of President Trump and a follower of Jesus Christ.”

Previously, another Trump-aligned lawyer, Jenna Ellis, received a censure from Colorado's state disciplinary authority for her untrue statements claiming the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Currently, Trump himself is facing potential disqualification from the state's 2024 primary ballot, as the Colorado Supreme Court considers whether his own role in the Jan. 6 attack renders him constitutionally ineligible to return to office. A judge concluded last month Trump engaged in insurrection, but ordered state election officials to place his name on the presidential primary ballot.