Attorney who smuggled drugs into jail for client suspended for 2 years

A Colorado lawyer who smuggled drugs into the Mesa County jail was suspended from practicing law for two years after he admitted his misconduct during the state’s process for disciplining attorneys.

Attorney Jason Conley, a former prosecutor in the Mesa County district attorney’s office, smuggled synthetic marijuana wax and methamphetamine into the jail and gave it to his incarcerated client four times in 2020, according to a January admission of misconduct filed with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.

Conley agreed to provide the drugs after his client, Dalton Castleberry, showed him a note in which another inmate threatened to harm Castleberry unless Castleberry could get the inmate marijuana wax. Castleberry was in jail on charges of attempting to smuggle drugs into the jail.

Conley was concerned for his client’s safety and agreed to deliver the drugs, according to the admission of misconduct. He smuggled in marijuana wax to Castleberry three times, once hiding the substance in an envelope containing case discovery.

On the fourth delivery, in July 2020, a friend of Castleberry’s gave the attorney a bag of what she said was marijuana wax to smuggle into the jail, but it actually contained methamphetamine, according to the admission.

Conley brought the bag to Castleberry but was caught on video doing so. He confessed when questioned by investigators days later but denied knowing the last package contained methamphetamine instead of marijuana wax, a highly potent cannabis extract.

In January, Conley pleaded guilty to a felony count of introducing contraband to a jail and received a deferred two-year sentence. He was ordered to complete 120 hours of public service, pay a $2,000 fine and serve 14 days of home confinement, according to the court records. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The two-year suspension considers several mitigating factors, according to the admission, including that Conley believed he was protecting his client by delivering the drugs and that he was “extraordinarily honest” with criminal investigators and throughout the professional discipline process. The admission notes that Conley has worked in Mesa County’s legal community for 15 years.

“Respondent deeply regrets his lapse in judgment and any negative consequences it brought,” the admission reads.

Presiding Disciplinary Judge William Lucero ordered the suspension on Jan. 27.