Salem attorney gets 3 years supervised probation after pleading guilty to harassment – Statesman Journal

A Salem lawyer was sentenced to three years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to two harassment charges against a woman in Clackamas County; nine other domestic violence charges were dropped.

Christopher Best,a shareholder at the Gatti Law Firm, was sentenced for two misdemeanor counts of harassment last week in Clackamas County Circuit Court. Three felony counts of strangulation, three counts of fourth-degree assault, two counts of menacing and one count of harassment were dropped as part of the plea deal, court records show.

Best will serve the first 45 days of his sentence under house arrest, Clackamas County District Attorney officials said. Best will be limited in where he is permitted to travel, to include work, medical appointments and treatment, court records show. Court officials also filed a referral form on behalf of Best for Vigilnet, a company that supplies house arrest monitors and GPS devices. Judge Eric Bergstrom also ordered Best to complete domestic violence and alcohol treatment, have no contact with the woman and have no firearms.

According to court records, Best was indicted on charges of attacking and harassing the woman multiple times from January 2018 to April 2019. Some of the assaults took place in front of minor children. He was arrested in November 2020.

In a victim's impact statement, the woman stated Best became violent on multiple occasions, including an evening in 2018 when she was pinned to her bathroom floor and strangled. She later learned her child witnessed the attack.

"After Chriss abuse, I am now a shadow of the person I was and described earlier," she stated. "I struggle each day with angst to get that person back."

The woman said she saw through the legal proceedings at a cost to herself and her family to ensure Best's actions were brought to light.

"If not me, then who?" she wrote.

The Statesman Journal does not identify victims of domestic violence or abuse unless they choose to come forward and tell their own stories.

In the impact statement, the woman asked Bergstrom to impose the maximum sentence.

"It is my belief that he has no intention of any genuine reform from his abusiveness. If he is not held to have adequate consequences today, the next woman he abuses might not be able to call herself a survivor," the woman wrote of Best. "Even if she did survive his abuse as I have, it is a life sentence of strife, fear, and trauma for his victim."

The case took about a year and a half to reach an outcome, in part, due to COVID-19 as well as extensive litigation into a complex case, Clackamas County District Attorney officials said.

"This case had challenging aspects and we tried to balance the recognition of those challenging aspects with holding the defendant accountable for his actions," Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owen said.

Best's attorney, Jacob Houze, told the Statesman Journal Tuesday Best's criminal case was "thoroughly investigated and exhaustively negotiated." Houze pointed to an additional eight charges of contempt of court being dropped against his client.

He added the criminal case came on the heels of a "contentious" divorce filing between Best and his wife, which has been pending for "twice as long" as the marriage lasted. Houze said Best's wife seeks money in the divorce, as well as nearly $800,000 in a civil lawsuit she filed against Best.

Best recently lived in Wilsonville and Newberg but has worked out of Gatti's Salem office.Best is listed as a shareholder and attorney on the Gatti Law Firm website. Gatti officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Best has made headlines in recent years representing victims of sexual abuse at schools, churches andday cares.He most recently was in the news for representing a Corvallis doctor suing Oregon Health& Science University for misusing andoverusing spermhe donated as a medical student.

Oregon State Bar officials confirmed two ethics complaints filed against Best in 2019 remain open.

One complaint, filed by a Salem resident, cited the five-page criminal indictment filed against Best.

The other complaint was filed by Best's ex-wife. She alleged Best interfered in her legal affairs while she worked to get spousal support from her previous ex-husband.

Oregon State Bar Communications Director Kateri Walsh said Best declined to respond to bar attorneys' inquiries about the complaints, citing his fifth amendment rights, while the criminal proceedings were ongoing.

"Now that the criminal matter is resolved, our investigation will proceed and we will be seeking further information from Mr. Best in response to the two complaints," Walsh said Monday.

Best's state bar license also remains active, Walsh confirmed.

Walsh previously told the Statesman Journal that criminal conduct can have disciplinary implications in certain circumstances.

Formal hearings are held if the State Professional Responsibility Board finds probable cause exists to believe a disciplinary rule violation has occurred.

Bar proceedings relating to discipline, admission and reinstatement are reviewed by the Oregon Supreme Court.

Oregon Rules of Professional Conductstateit is unethical for a lawyer to commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.

Statesman Journal reporter Whitney Woodworth contributed to this story.

Virginia Barreda is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-6657 or atvbarreda@statesmanjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at@vbarreda2.

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Salem attorney gets 3 years supervised probation after pleading guilty to harassment - Statesman Journal