A former Canberra lawyer who fraudulently accepted tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees has been jailed by a judge who slammed his "deliberate and calculated" money-making ruse as bordering on the "pathological".
Stephen Stubbs, 64, was sentenced to three years and one month imprisonment for accepting more than $29,000 in payments from Legal Aid ACT and a client's mother to defend her son accused of conspiracy to murder.
Stubbs was led from the ACT Supreme Court in handcuffs to serve one year of his sentence behind bars, with the rest suspended upon entering a good behaviour order for more than two years on Thursday.
A jury found Stubbs guilty of 14 fraud offences after one day of deliberations and a dramatic trial in December.
Stubbs was representing Alexander Duffy, then 19, when he demanded $25,000 for legal work from his mother, Anne Duffy, and $4000 from the Legal Aid office, which provides legal representation to vulnerable and disadvantage citizens.
Lawyers are not allowed to take outside money for a matter after a client has been granted legal aid, and Stubbs had not told either party he was accepting funds from the other.
In scathing sentencing remarks, Justice John Burns said Stubbs was a liar who was driven by greed and had shown no remorse.
"You lied during the course of your trial. You made outrageous allegations against your client, Mr Duffy, and his mother, Mrs Duffy," Justice Burns said.
"You are a thoroughly dishonest man who will say whatever you think will benefit you at a particular time.
"It borders on the pathological that you took from Mrs Duffy and the Legal Aid office amounts of money that would have at that time been relatively insignificant to you."
Justice Burns said Stubbs' moral culpability for his deception - which he said was not opportunistic and instead a "deliberate and calculated course of conduct" - was high.
"I am satisfied your motive for doing so was simply one of greed."
Justice Burns said the crimes were particularly reprehensible given he knew Mrs Duffy was upset by the proceedings against her son and he had implicitly held himself out as someone she could trust as a legal practitioner.
"You knew Mrs Duffy was vulnerable and you took advantage of that vulnerability in a most calculated way to appropriate from her what for her was significant amount of money."
The court heard Stubbs had since paid reparations to the court for both Legal Aid and Mrs Duffy and had told a pre-sentence report author his offences were "a sloppy practice and a stupid mistake".
His trial had stalled for several days when Stubbs, who defended himself after splitting with his barrister, failed to show at court one morning after admitting himself to Goulburn Hospital.
Justice Burns accepted Stubbs had ongoing heart problems, but noted the extent to which his condition affected his mental capacity and memory had been in dispute.
He placed little weight on medical evidence put before the court to support the argument Stubbs suffered ongoing psychological problems, noting he appeared "astute" to questions and arguments throughout the trial.
"You may not be an experienced or skilled trial advocate but I'm satisfied you did not display any sign of intellectual deficit."
The court heard Stubbs, who has been on bail, claimed he lived off Centrelink benefits but had sold two parcels of land, each for more than $1 million, near his Goulburn property, in recent years.
He was convicted of dishonesty offences in the 1970s and had previously spent time in jail.
Justice Burns said Stubbs' criminal history would inevitably have been considered when he was admitted to practice as a lawyer in the ACT, but said the court must have been convinced he'd reformed himself in the years since his crimes.
Stubbs had squandered the trust shown in him when he went on to commit the fresh offences within three years of his admission, the judge said.
Justice Burns said it was important to send a strong message of deterrence to show such crimes committed by legal practitioners would not be tolerated, and would be punished.
The judge held out little hope Stubbs would reform given his age, conduct during the trial and his lack of remorse.
He ordered the reparations be paid to the Legal Aid office and to Mrs Duffy, who last year described Stubbs' crimes as "the cruelest of all betrayals".