WARWICK, R.I. -- A three-member panel of the Rhode Island Supreme Court's disciplinary board continued a series of pretrial hearings Friday regarding ethics charges that have been brought against lawyer Keven A. McKenna, who is trying to halt the proceedings on procedural, legal and constitutional grounds.
The Supreme Court appointed an outside special counsel to investigate and then prosecute McKenna for alleged violations of the lawyer's Code of Professional Responsibility.
McKenna tried, without success, to get the chairwoman of the panel, lawyer Laura Pisaturo, to recuse herself from participating in the hearings, saying she was trying to "curry favor" with Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell whom he claims is on a witch hunt against him. She's applied for a magistrate's job at the Traffic Tribunal.