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Federal court considers case of smuggler's lawyer By CHRIS BRISTOL A federal appeals court will hear arguments Wednesday involving a Medford attorney busted in 1994 for helping a business client who was an international drug-smuggling fugitive. Meeting in Portland, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will ultimately decide whether Daniel F. Kellington should go to prison or get a new trial. A ruling is not expected for at least two months. A federal jury in May 1996 found Kellington guilty of two obstruction-related charges for allegedly tampering with the financial records of Peter Scott Christopher MacFarlane, who once operated a boat-building company in Central Point under the name Robert Parker. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan later overturned the verdict, ruling that the jury had insufficient evidence to convict Kellington. It was the first time Hogan had overruled a jury in 23 years as a federal magistrate and trial judge. The appeals court then reversed Hogan, reinstating the original verdict and sending the case back for sentencing. Hogan refused and ordered a new trial. Prosecutors have not decided whether to re-try Kellington if the appeals court won't reverse Hogan again. Higher courts rarely reverse judges who believe a new trial is necessary. If the government's lawyers win, however, Kellington would face 18 months in a federal penitentiary. Kellington, a member of the Oregon State Bar since 1965, had an untarnished reputation until he met MacFarlane. Using the alias Robert Parker, MacFarlane eluded authorities for 10 years after he failed to show up for court in Vermont on a 15-year prison sentence for smuggling 1,000 pounds of hashish into the United States. Acting on a tip, a team of U.S. marshals and other federal agents arrested him in 1994 at his home in the Applegate area. Just after his arrest, MacFarlane called Kellington from the Jackson County Jail and told him he had been arrested as a federal fugitive. In the past, Kellington had handled business matters for MacFarlane, whom he knew only as boat-builder Robert Parker. At his client's request, Kellington called one of MacFarlane's employees and instructed him to retrieve assets, including a boat and stereo equipment, from MacFarlane's home and destroy a certain envelope. The employee was subsequently detained by marshals, who set up a sting with the FBI to catch Kellington with his client's belongings. The briefcase contained $20,000 in cash. The envelope, which the employee burned in MacFarlane's fireplace, contained a checkbook in the name Martin Branon and other financial documents. During trial, Kellington insisted he never realized he might be destroying evidence when he complied with MacFarlane's request. Prosecutors alleged he knew or should have known that those items could be part of new criminal proceedings against MacFarlane. In March, a trial panel of the Oregon State Bar dismissed disciplinary charges against Kellington. Noting that Kellington specialized in civil cases, the bar panel ruled that Kellington had always known his client as a legitimate businessman and appeared to genuinely believe that MacFarlane's request was business-related and had nothing to do with the arrest. The panel said Kellington was guilty of being "somewhat naive." "Persons of a more suspicious and perhaps cynical nature, including many attorneys, would have avoided involvement with MacFarlane," the bar ruled, adding that Kellington's mistakes derived from his "lack of experience in criminal matters and his trusting nature." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA