People v. Khilji.

No. 24PDJ053. Stipulation to Discipline. 8/22/2024.

November 1, 2024

The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ stipulation to discipline and suspended Ahad Ali Khilji (attorney registration number 54090) for 60 days, all to be stayed upon Khilji’s successful completion of a two-year period of probation, with conditions. The probation took effect on August 22, 2024.

From 2019 to 2022, Khilji practiced law in Grand Junction as a public defender. In mid-May 2023, a blog titled “Much Ado About Something,” which is maintained by a former deputy district attorney for the 21st Judicial District, posted a screenshot displaying two comments made in response to a blog post. The comments were attributable to a Mesa County judge and to a different former deputy district attorney for the 21st Judicial District. The comment attributable to the judge read, “DA GOT THAT DOPE.” The comment attributable to the former deputy district attorney read, “Shut the fuck up.”

In fact, Khilji authored the comments, posing as the judge and the former deputy district attorney. When Khilji authored the comments, he was no longer employed as a public defender. Khilji did not post the comments to the blog but submitted them to the blog’s moderator. To submit the comments, Khilji had to associate each one with an email address. Khilji concocted the email addresses, though one of the addresses happened to be an actual address used by the former deputy district attorney.

Through this conduct, Khilji violated Colo. RPC 8.4(c) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation).