DATE: Saturday, July 19, 1997               TAG: 9707190303

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS HANSEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   65 lines

FORMER CLIENT FILES SUIT AGAINST JUDGE, ALLEGING BLACKMAIL A BITTER FIGHT OVER $18,500 IN LEGAL FEES HAS ESCALATED INTO THIS $1 MILLION CLAIM.

District Judge Robert E. Gillette has been sued for $1 million by a former client, who alleges that a series of Gillette's collection letters to him amounted to blackmail, caused him to miss work and created severe emotional distress.

The suit alleges that Benjamin J. Aston Jr. was a victim of fraud, extortion, negligence and breach of contract by Gillette. The complaint asks for $250,000 in actual and $750,000 in punitive damages.

Aston's lawyer, Brian D. Lytle of Newport News, says the suit was partly motivated by the fact that Aston does not believe that Gillette had been properly reproached for his actions during a bitter fight over $18,500 in legal fees.

Gillette was privately reprimanded by the state bar in December 1996, a decision Lytle said was not satisfactory punishment.

Instead, Lytle said he ``intends to let (Aston) have his day in court.''

The suit, filed Thursday in York County Circuit Court, also names Gillette's private practice and two of his former employees, secretary Lori H. Panther, and private investigator William S. Coco.

Gillette refused to comment on the suit. Panther and Coco could not be reached for comment.

Aston, a bricklayer, now lives in North Carolina. He also could not be reached for comment.

The civil suit is the latest twist in a bitter case regarding a former private lawyer seeking to collect fees from his client.

According to court papers, Gillette, as an attorney in private practice in Suffolk, represented Aston in several cases dating back to 1980.

In 1995, Gillette represented Aston in a criminal trial in which Aston was accused of driving without a license. Aston testified that he was not the driver and was acquitted.

In the weeks following the case, Gillette and Aston argued over $18,500 in legal fees.

In an effort to collect the money, a letter on Gillette's stationary was sent by his office to Aston, threatening to tell the judge and a prosecutor that Aston lied during his trial testimony, according to the suit.

Gillette became a judge in July 1995. About three weeks later, another letter was sent to Aston, signed by Gillette on his private stationary, the suit alleges.

He again requested that Aston sign a promissory note, and included a letter to the trial judge stating that Aston had committed perjury.

If convicted of perjury, Aston could have been sent to jail. Aston again did not sign the promissory note.

At a final meeting in August, the suit alleges, Gillette told Aston that he ``held the keys to the jailhouse for you.''

The suit claims that Panther and Coco assisted in the preparation and mailing of the letters.

A spokesman for the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission in Richmond said that judges are regularly the objects of civil suits and that such actions rarely lead to a judge's removal.

The review commission cleared Gillette of any wrongdoing in February, 1996.

Gillette's term as District Court Judge expires on June 30, 2001. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Judge Robert E. Gillette KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT

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