MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A Montgomery County jury sentenced State Representative and personal injury lawyer Ron Reynolds, of Fort Bend County, to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine Monday after his conviction last week for illegally soliciting clients.
Prosecutors claimed Reynolds used a middle man as an ambulance chaser to gain clients.
"I had no knowledge that this person was unlawfully soliciting clients from his home in Conroe that I'd never even been to," Reynolds said.
During the punishment phase of the trial the state called some of Reynold's former clients who claimed he ripped them off.
"The defendant held on to money that he should have given clients. He didn't tell clients about lawsuits that had been settled and just intentionally failed to live up to his obligations as an attorney," said Assistant District Attorney Joel Daniels.
Reynolds said those were just two disgruntled clients with whom he had a miscommunication.
"The jury bought into an emotional appeal, lets send a message to politicians let's punish politicians and the mood and the atmosphere for politicians is not good right now and I was a victim of that, it certainly wasn't based on the evidence," Reynolds said.
The judge ordered Reynolds immediately taken into custody. Reynolds says he will appeal the conviction and sentence.