Attorney Gets 90 Days in Jail for Using LSD : Ventura: A judge will consider reducing the conviction to a misdemeanor to avoid destroying the man’s career.

A Ventura lawyer who was convicted of possession of LSD was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in jail, three years probation and a drug treatment program.

But in sentencing 42-year-old Douglas Andrew Palaschak, Superior Court Judge Burt Henson agreed to consider a motion next week to reduce the felony conviction to a misdemeanor.

Under state law, a judge can reduce the conviction, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison, to a misdemeanor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kim G. Gibbons said.

Henson agreed to consider the change after defense attorney Robert I. Schwartz argued that a felony conviction would destroy Palaschak’s career.

“His entire life will be basically ruined by two hits of LSD,” Schwartz said of Palaschak, who was convicted earlier this month of taking the drug with his 18-year-old secretary in May at his office on Telephone Road.

After the sentencing, Palaschak said he regretted taking LSD. “I want to apologize to members of the community and members of the State Bar for casting embarrassment on them,” he said. “What I did was stupid. What I did was not some flagrant snubbing of the law, but human failure and intense curiosity.”

Palaschak and Jessica Jobin were arrested May 9 after another office worker, Melissa Schwentner, 17, informed police about the incident.

Jobin, who was initially charged with possession of LSD for sale, agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of possession in return for testifying against Palaschak, Gibbons said. Her arraignment is scheduled today.

In arguing that the conviction remain a felony, Gibbons contended that Palaschak has repeatedly flouted the law and misused his position as an attorney to influence his young secretarial staff.

“He hires attractive young women to surround himself,” said Gibbons, describing Palaschak as “setting himself up as someone with an aura of authority.”

Palaschak, who was acquitted of furnishing LSD to a minor and conspiracy to possess the drug, is under investigation by the State Bar over several allegations, including a contract that Palaschak asked several prospective female employees to sign.

The contract said that the applicant had been chosen “primarily on the basis of sexual appeal” and that Palaschak was considering the applicant as a potential girlfriend. By signing the document, the prospective employee gave the attorney the right to make sexual overtures, both physical and verbal.

Palaschak has said that he drew up the contract to protect himself from “sexual blackmail” and that it was signed by only one of more than 50 secretaries who worked for brief periods in his office last year.

The State Bar is also investigating Palaschak for several traffic citations as well as citations for failure to appear in court, State Bar spokeswoman Susan Scott said.

Palaschak is serving a 120-day sentence in Ventura County Jail for traffic citations, failures to appear in court and contempt-of-court citations, all unrelated to the LSD charge. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to an additional 270 days in jail for driving with a suspended license, Gibbons said.

“He thinks he can drive without a license; he thinks he doesn’t have to appear in court,” Gibbons said. “It’s an inappropriate attitude for a lawyer. Let’s let him demonstrate appropriate behavior toward the law.”

Starting May 18, Palaschak will be unable to practice law and must return advance fees until a State Bar panel holds a hearing and decides what sanctions to impose, Scott said.

The least severe punishment would be a private reproof; the most severe would be disbarment.

Although Scott declined to comment on Henson’s ruling, she did say: “We’re looking at the same matter in a different light--whether or not it involves moral turpitude and how it affects that person’s ability to practice law.”