Deborah Neal
JEFFERSON CITY -- Four Kansas City-area lawyers who lent money to a gambling-addicted municipal judge have been reprimanded by the Missouri Supreme Court. The four - John Quinn, Cecil Williams, Vincent Esposito and Salvatore Mirabile - were punished by the Supreme Court on Oct. 30 on recommendation of the state Disciplinary Hearing Panel. The panel charged the four with violating Rule 4-8.4(d), updated four months ago, dealing with "maintaining the integrity of the profession." The attorneys were cited for loaning money to former Kansas City Municipal Court Judge Deborah Neal, whom they often appeared before, to cover her gambling debts, local media reported. Neal will be released from a federal "halfway house" next week after 28 months of incarceration. Neal was convicted by a federal judge in September 2005 of mail fraud over her efforts to gather almost $36,000 from 17 attorneys and three bonding companies to cover her gambling losses.