Taking money from dead kids will get you disbarred

The Missouri Supreme Court has disbarred a man who once oversaw a memorial fund for two murdered children. Partly because the man, former Independence attorney Kent Desselle, took $20,000 donated to the Sam and Lindsey Porter Memorial Fund — money given to build a playground in honor of the children murdered by their father in June 2004 — and invested it in his company.

The Kansas City Star says the state’s high court found Desselle guilty last week of “multiple violations of the rules of professional conduct,” including “engaging in serious conflicts of interest with clients, failing to safekeep client property and misrepresenting facts to clients.” In February 2008, the Star outed Desselle’s investment in himself, which he paid back after the story ran. Taking from dead kids is just asking for bad karma.