Brownsville man reinstated as attorney
With the testimony of the current and former district attorneys of Fayette County, a retired judge and several members of the county’s legal community, a Brownsville man will once again be a practicing lawyer.
The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania issued an order Tuesday reinstating Brian Joseph Salisbury more than a decade after his disbarment upon being convicted for sneaking drugs to a client in police custody.
The court order granting Salisbury, 47, his ability to practice law describes a tumultuous several years of additional criminal charges, jail time and drug use that were followed by five years of sobriety and accountability.
Fayette County District Attorney Michael Aubuele testified at a hearing before the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) last year that Salisbury “has the highest character.”
“He is fit to practice law. I think he understands what – what this profession means, and I know that he – of course you know, he had his problems in the past. I do believe he is past that,” Aubele is quoted as saying in court paperwork. “I would like nothing more than to have Brian in the court against me representing a client.”
The circumstances that led to Salisbury’s disbarment began in July 2013 when he met with a client in a holding cell at the Uniontown Police Department and provided that client with drugs, including heroin.
Salisbury pleaded guilty to drug charges, gave up his law license and was sentenced to prison for 11 ½ to 23 months. According to the court order, he was able to serve this time at a three-quarter house before he was paroled.
Between then and 2020, Salisbury was in and out of jail for parole and probation violations, and a DUI in 2017.
The reinstatement order states he has been sober since July 3, 2020, when he was transferred from Fayette County jail to Angels Light Addiction Specialists in Uniontown.
Kyle Rogers, a senior behavioral technician at Another Way halfway house, testified at the ODC hearing last year that Salisbury took the recovery program seriously and was a “model client.”
According to court records, Salisbury began working construction and delivery jobs. In 2022, he took a job at Davis & Davis in Uniontown and worked his way up from doing deliveries to paralegal work.
Brothers James Davis and Samuel Davis both testified on Salisbury’s behalf. James Davis said he had warned Salisbury that the firm was taking a risk hiring someone who had such “notoriety and bad publicity,” and that Salisbury would have to be “clean and sober and committed.”
Samuel Davis had represented Salisbury in some of his criminal cases, and testified that Salisbury was “remorseful and embarrassed” when he asked for legal help. He described Salisbury at the ODC hearing as “honest, reliable and absolutely trustworthy.”
Salisbury also received positive testimony from some of those who were involved in doling out punishments for his criminal cases.
Retired Fayette County Common Pleas Judge Gerald Solomon accepted Salisbury’s guilty plea in 2014 and sentenced him. The jurist testified that Salisbury was a “shining example” in the drug court program and that he “dedicated himself to the program.”
“Judge Solomon believes (Salisbury) is morally qualified to resume practice and has become a better person since his involvement in the criminal system, and a dependable person,” reads the disciplinary board’s opinion.
Richard Bower, Aubele’s predecessor as the county’s district attorney, provided a letter to the ODC. Bower was the district attorney when Salisbury violated probation a second time, and Bower pushed for jail time.
Bower wrote that he was “very proud” of Salisbury and that Salisbury had met with him and expressed remorse.
“That day, Brian thanked me for wanting him put in jail. He realized that he would never have changed if I had not been so adamant that he be incarcerated,” Bower wrote.
Though the ODC recommended the disciplinary board reject Salisbury’s bid for reinstatement, the board ultimately found his dedication to sobriety and the testimony on his behalf compelling enough to rule in his favor.
“We further conclude Petitioner has rebuilt his life and is fit to practice law. His genuine, corroborated and undisputed expressions of remorse and accountability and evidence of rehabilitation, moral qualifications, competency, learning in the law and professional stability for the future demonstrate that he is not predisposed to commit future ethical misconduct and his reinstatement will not be detrimental to the integrity and standing of the bar or the administration of justice nor subversive of the public interest,” reads the board’s opinion.