THE FLORIDA BAR, COMPLAINANT,
v.
ANTONIO C. PIGGEE, RESPONDENT
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The Court adopts the referee's recommendations, suspending the respondent attorney for sixty days and ordering payment of costs.
Respondent attorney was arrested and charged with drug possession, eventually pleading nolo contendere to cocaine possession with adjudication withhel…
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PER CURIAM.
This disciplinary proceeding is before us on complaint of The Florida Bar, respondent’s conditional guilty plea and the uncontested report of the referee. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 15, Fla. Const. Respondent was arrested in May 1985 and charged with possession of small quantities of cocaine and marijuana. In August, the marijuana possession charge was nolle prossed and respondent pled nolo con-tendere to the cocaine possession charge. Adjudication of guilt was withheld and respondent was placed on three years probation.
Respondent then informed the Florida Bar of the charges and their disposition. Respondent tendered a conditional plea admitting that his actions constituted a violation of article XI, Rule 11.02(8) of the Integration Rule (proscribing commission by a lawyer of any act contrary to good morals), and of Disciplinary Rule 1-102(A)(3) (prohibiting an attorney from engaging in illegal conduct involving moral turpitude). The referee recommended that respondent be found guilty of these violations. The referee further recommended, in light of respondent’s lack of prior criminal or disciplinary history and the responsible manner in which respondent fulfilled his duty in reporting his misconduct to the Bar, that respondent be suspended from the practice of law for sixty days, and bear the costs of the disciplinary proceedings.
We approve the report of the referee and adopt his recommendations. Accordingly, it is the judgment of the Court that respondent be suspended from the practice of law in the State of Florida for sixty days. This suspension shall become effective thirty days from the release of this opinion. Judgment is entered against respondent for costs in the amount of $150 for which sum let execution issue.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, Acting C.J., and OVERTON, EHRLICH, SHAW and BARKETT, JJ., concur.
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THE Florida BAR v. Merrill Tunsil, 503 So. 2d 1230 (Fla. 1986)…her erase the grievous nature of respondent’s misconduct in stealing clients’ funds, nor diminish it to the extent of warranting the same, punishment which has been meted out for much less serious offenses. For example, in The Florida Bar v. Piggee, 490 So. 2d 1260 (Fla.1986), a lawyer was suspended for sixty days for the possession of small quantities of cocaine and marijuana. Although we do not condone such conduct, we perceive a significant distinction between misconduct which does not injure clients or abu…
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THE Florida BAR v. Taryn Xenia Temmer, 753 So. 2d 555 (Fla. 1999)…ed by Temmer involve neither previous misconduct nor violations of disciplinary terms, and offer little guidance here. See Florida Bar v. Levine, 498 So. 2d 941 (Fla.1986) (public reprimand for misdemeanor cocaine conviction); Florida Bar v. Piggee, 490 So. 2d 1260 (Fla.1986) (sixty-day suspension for cocaine possession where attorney had a “lack of prior criminal or disciplinary history”). Finally, in urging that the Bar’s primary motivation in seeking a ninety-one-day suspension is to simply punish her, Tem…