DC court-appointed lawyer is accused of sexually abusing disabled client

A developmentally disabled woman struggling with addiction was desperate to regain custody of the son she had lost because of alleged neglect. She had no money to pay for a lawyer, so a D.C. court appointed an attorney to her case.

But soon, the mother later told police, the 76-year-old lawyer was texting her about his sexual desires, plying her with alcohol, and engaging her in unprotected sexual intercourse and oral sex – all while promising that he could reunite her with her son.

The attorney, who is white, repeatedly told the woman, who is Black, that he wanted to impregnate her with a mixed-race baby and urged her to remove her birth control device, according to screenshots of text messages he sent that were included in court files.

“I can’t wait to hear you say ‘I’m pregnant with your baby!!!” one text in May read.

David P. Hayes was arrested late last month and faces one felony charge of first-degree sexual abuse of a client. He has served for decades on a panel of lawyers appointed by D.C. Superior Court to represent parents who cannot afford an attorney in cases involving alleged abuse or neglect of their children.

The woman’s allegations against him are detailed in a 19-page affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court that includes copies of numerous explicit text messages that Hayes purportedly sent the woman, as well as descriptions of audio and video recordings of some of her interactions with him. The affidavit also describes the woman’s initial report to police in early June and her subsequent sworn testimony before a D.C. grand jury.

She told the grand jury that she had reported her allegations about Hayes to social workers at the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, but they did not believe her. The woman testified that she decided to go to police because she was scared by how often he was texting her and showing up outside her apartment.

“It started to become more obsessive,” she said, according to the affidavit.

Hayes and his defense attorney, Gemma M. Stevens, did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Hayes has not yet entered a plea in the case.

Keena Blackmon, a spokeswoman for the Child and Family Services Agency, said in a statement that the agency is assisting law enforcement in its investigation of the “profoundly disturbing” allegations.

She did not answer questions from The Washington Post about whether CFSA had documented the woman’s complaint about Hayes or reported it to police or Adult Protective Services, a city agency tasked with protecting vulnerable adults. “Due to federal and local confidentiality laws, CFSA is unable to share details about our employees and the reports that they file,” the statement said.

Doug Buchanan, a spokesman for D.C. Superior Court, said Hayes has served on the court’s Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect panel since 2003. Due to the pending charge, he is “not eligible” to receive such cases, Buchanan said.

Timothy Lauer, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said a grand jury would need to return an indictment before the case could go to trial. Lauer said his office was not authorized to comment on the status of grand jury investigations.

The woman is identified only by her initials in court filings, and her age is not specified. She told police that she has a developmental disability that affects her ability to communicate and retain information, and that she often records her interactions to help her remember events, details and dates. The D.C. Department on Disability Services provides her with 16 hours of daily assistance, and she is enrolled in a program to help her gain more independence, according to the affidavit.

When she went to police in early June, the woman told officers that Hayes had been representing her for about two months. D.C. Superior Court appointed him to serve as her lawyer in late March after she was charged with neglect and her child was removed from her home, according to the affidavit.

The woman said that at first, Hayes texted her about legal matters, including a checklist of to-do items that could help her win back custody of her son.

On April 23, the woman – along with Hayes as her attorney – signed legal papers admitting to having a substance abuse addiction that prevented her from responsibly caring for her son, according to the affidavit. At a court hearing on May 11, she agreed to complete an assessment and all recommended services, along with weekly drug and alcohol testing, as steps needed to reunite with her child.

Soon after, the messages from Hayes turned sexual, according to screenshots included in the affidavit. Hayes began asking the woman to send explicit photos. She complied, she told police.

She told police that on May 16, Hayes pressured her into sex at her apartment after he delivered legal papers to her. She was under the influence of marijuana, cocaine and alcohol at the time, she later told a grand jury. The woman described feeling lightheaded and said she was so high that she could not feel her face.

Hayes did not force himself on her, but she did not want to have sex with him, she testified. When a D.C. detective asked the woman whether the sexual encounter had been consensual, the woman responded, “Wait, what is consensual?” After hearing the definition, the woman replied that by the time Hayes began taking off his clothes, she was already under the influence of drugs, according to the affidavit.

The woman told the grand jury that she believed Hayes had the power to get her son back. She said she had no friends or family, or anyone else in her life who could offer legal advice. She said she was scared to go to police at that time. She said she thought because “she is black and he is white, she might have been in trouble.”

The woman said she later told social workers at CFSA “about what happened,” but “none of them would believe her,” according to the summary of her grand jury testimony. The records do not make clear when the woman allegedly told CFSA social workers about Hayes.

The woman said that CFSA’s skepticism of her claims was an additional reason she began to record her interactions with Hayes, according to the affidavit.

“She knew once her social workers did not believe her that she needed to start recording every meeting,” according to the summary of her testimony.

On May 31, Hayes texted the woman to inquire about coming over to her apartment again, according to the affidavit. He also allegedly wrote to her: “Delete all our texts please.” By 4 p.m. that day, he wrote that he had been waiting for her and texted: “Is this any way to treat your husband?” The woman responded that she was “smoking weed” to relax. “It’s not easy to have sex I just miss my son,” she wrote.

The woman said that Hayes arrived at her apartment carrying a bottle of Taaka vodka that she had requested. According to the affidavit, she started recording audio and captured him saying that he was not being a good attorney because he had brought her alcohol when she was trying to get sober. At one point, according to a summary of the recording in the affidavit, he again asked her to delete text messages between them. Then he asked if he could kiss her body. She told him that while he was a “good man,” she just wanted to “chill.” Then she whispered into the recorder: “This s— is crazy. This is my attorney.”

During a second recording that day, Hayes said he wanted to perform oral sex on her, according to the affidavit. Later in the recording, she said: “I need my son. I just want to get sober, get some help and be a mom.”

She testified to the grand jury that she smoked marijuana and drank most of the bottle of vodka that night, while Hayes consumed none of it. At one point, Hayes removed his clothing and walked naked into her bedroom. She said she texted a neighbor for help, and the neighbor knocked on the door. Hayes then put on his clothes and left, the woman testified.

She told the grand jury that it was hard to listen to the recordings because she felt guilty and believed she never should have opened the door for Hayes.

The next day, she went to the police.

The D.C. detective assigned to the case contacted a case worker for CFSA, identified in the filings as “Witness 3,” and provided a summary of the woman’s allegations against Hayes. The case worker confirmed to the detective that the woman had spoken to her about the accusations, but the affidavit does not specify what details the woman shared with the case worker.

The case worker also told police that in her previous discussions with the woman about sexual incidents, the woman “appeared to at times be confused about the concept of consent.”

The case worker told police she knows Hayes well because of his legal work on neglect cases and inquired whether D.C. police were sure they had the right person.

But when the detective played one of the voice recordings, the case worker recognized Hayes’s voice, according to the affidavit, and blurted out, “Oh, my God.”

Hayes was arrested in late June and charged under a D.C. law that makes it a crime for a professional in a relationship of trust to engage in “a sexual act with another person who is a patient or client” while providing services.

During a June 26 preliminary hearing, a prosecutor argued that Hayes should be held in jail, according to a transcript.

“He knows where the victim lives in this case,” said Matthew Goldstein of the U.S. attorney’s office. “He knows the victim’s phone number. We have serious concerns that he may try to further manipulate her or to put her in danger because of everything that he may lose as part of this case.”

Stevens, Hayes’s defense attorney, countered that he had no criminal history. “By virtue of his age, Mr. Hayes himself is a vulnerable adult,” she said, according to the transcript.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson discussed the “extremely troubling” nature of the alleged offense, given the attorney-client relationship between Hayes and the woman.

“The weight of the evidence, thus far, seems to be quite compelling,” Dayson said.

But Dayson said the law required her to choose the least restrictive option to ensure the safety of the community. She released Hayes on electronic monitoring and ordered that he be confined to his home and have no contact with “vulnerable adults.” She also prohibited him from legal work that involves “direct client contact.” The next hearing in his case is Friday.

Hayes has been licensed to practice law in D.C. since 1989. He is a member of the D.C. Bar in good standing, and he has no public record of disciplinary proceedings, according to the D.C. Bar’s website.

D.C. Superior Court keeps lists of attorneys who are “vetted and approved” to represent indigent parties in Family Court proceedings, according to its website. A committee of Superior Court judges and magistrates decides which lawyers are on the panels, including those on the Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect.

Hayes’s wife and daughter were at the June 26 hearing to support him, his defense attorney said in court.

Amy Brittain reports for The Washington Post.