Former Pima County prosecutor Lourdes Lopez has lost her right to practice law.
Earlier this year, the Arizona Supreme Court's disciplinary commission voted to disbar Lopez because of her indictment in September 2002 on federal drug charges.
Lopez's attorneys appealed, asking the Supreme Court to review her case, but the Supreme Court announced Thursday that it would not do so.
As a result, Lopez's disbarment became automatic.
The 39-year-old criminal-defense lawyer has 30 days to wrap up things at her law firm, said Cari Gerchick, a Supreme Court spokeswoman.
"I'm bitterly disappointed and frankly shocked over their decision not to review her petition," said Lopez's attorney, Mark Harrison.
The State Bar of Arizona filed a complaint against Lopez in November 2005, saying she had engaged in criminal conduct.
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The bar said that even after Lopez was indicted in September 2002 on prescription-drug-fraud charges along with Bradley Schwartz, she continued a relationship with Schwartz despite being ordered not to, and she lied about it.
Schwartz is serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder in the October 2004 slaying of former colleague Dr. David Brian Stidham.
Last December, Maret Vessella, deputy chief bar counsel, argued for the disbarment at a public hearing.
Vessella said Lopez not only let Schwartz write Vicodin painkiller prescriptions in her name and violated a federal judge's order to stay away from Schwartz, but she also discussed the plot to kill Stidham with Schwartz before Stidham's death.
Lopez, who successfully completed a diversion program after entering a plea agreement, told the hearing officer a distinction should be made between mistakes made in one's personal life and those made in one's professional life.
"I will agree I've done things in my personal life that I'm ashamed of, but I've always tried to conduct myself in my professional life in a way that I can be proud of," Lopez said.
Lopez also insisted she never believed Schwartz would follow through with his plan.
The hearing officer did not take Lopez's role in the Stidham case into consideration, but he recommended she be suspended for one year.
Last May, the disciplinary commission disagreed and voted for disbarment.
It was then that Harrison asked the Supreme Court to review the case.
On Thursday, Harrison called the disbarment "gratuitously punitive."
Disciplining attorneys is about protecting the public, not punishment, and the public doesn't need to be protected from Lopez, Harrison said.
Last month, Stidham's widow, Daphne, settled a lawsuit against the county for $2.29 million.
Under the terms of the settlement, Lopez, Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall and Pima County were dismissed from the lawsuit.
The county agreed to pay the entire amount on behalf former prosecutor Paul Skitzki, one of two people Lopez says she shared Schwartz's plot with.
Skitzki has always maintained Lopez only shared her concerns about Schwartz after Stidham's death.
Harrison said he is not sure what Lopez's immediate plans are but noted she can reapply for her license in five years.
