Chula Vista, CA 91915-1004
6 February 2016 | Disbarred (8 years, 2 months ago) Disbarment 09-C-16872 |
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25 March 2013 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (11 years, 1 month ago) Interim suspension after conviction 09-C-16872 |
7 February 2013 | Conviction record transmitted to State Bar Court 09-C-16872 (11 years, 2 months ago) |
1 September 2010 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (13 years, 8 months ago) Suspended, failed to pay fees |
1 September 2010 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (13 years, 8 months ago) Admin Inactive/MCLE noncompliance |
30 December 2003 | Public reproval with/duties 00-O-15454 (20 years, 4 months ago) |
25 June 1979 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (44 years, 10 months ago) |
February 6, 2016 Cold case murder conviction leads to disbarment A Chula Vista attorney found guilty of a decades-old murder and attempted murder that sprang from his obsession with his girlfriend’s young granddaughter has been disbarred. Eric Francis Fagan [#87071], 81, was summarily disbarred Feb. 6 as a result of his 2012 conviction for the first-degree murder of Cathy Paternoster and premeditated attempted murder of Paternoster’s boyfriend Carl Fuerst. Fagan was the longtime partner of Paternoster’s mother Betty.According to a 2009 article in The San Diego Union-Tribune, Fagan was long suspected of the crime but investigators weren’t able to gather enough evidence to make the arrest until the case was reopened years later. The article said that Fagan shot Cathy Paternoster in the hopes that Betty would then get custody of one of Cathy’s daughters. An unpublished Fourth District Court of Appeal decision affirming Fagan’s conviction lays out some details of the crime. Fagan, dressed in a fake beard, shot Paternoster and Fuerst as they returned to their home on the evening of Oct. 11, 1989. With them were Paternoster and Fuerst’s daughter and Paternoster’s two daughters from a previous relationship.Before the shooting, Fagan and Betty had raised Paternoster’s second oldest daughter, whom Fagan was described as having a peculiar relationship with, treating her “like she [was] his little wife.†But Paternoster brought the girl home following allegations that Fagan had molested her and her older sister. A physical examination of the girl, identified in the decision as Nicole, also revealed vaginal injuries that a physician said suggested a high likelihood she had been abused.Distressed about losing contact with Nicole, Fagan and his girlfriend traveled to Feurst and Paternoster’s home on three occasions to discuss the girl.“On the final visit, Fagan threatened to turn [Feurst] and [Paternoster] in for violating drug and tax laws, and to ‘turn all of this around’ by accusing [Feurst] of molestation,†the decision read.In the summer of 1989, Fagan purchased a revolver from a Santa Ana gun store and later, a revolver from a store in San Diego. Betty told a detective years later that Fagan had approached her with a plan to kidnap Nicole but was unable to recall if it was before or after her daughter’s murder. When his trial was going on, the decision said, Fagan’s adult daughter found a “meticulous†plan to kidnap the girl.In pretrial statements and at trial, Fagan denied molesting the girls, though he said he did shower naked with them and said Nicole’s sister once inadvertently caught him masturbating. He dismissed physical evidence, speculating that a detective rubbed his DNA on a latex glove found near the crime scene and said that child pornography found on his computer was to check a writing sample submitted by a job applicant which involved a child pornography case.“Computer tracking information revealed Fagan had repeatedly visited child pornography websites. Web addresses included the words “littlevirgins†and “underagetop,†others contained variations of the name or word ‘Lolita,’ which Fagan explained was a popular book about ‘a 14-year-old girl who got involved’ with an older man,†the decision said. One of his password protected files was titled “youngest girls.â€In February 2013, Fagan was sentenced to 25 years to life for Paternoster’s murder, a consecutive term of two years for a firearm enhancement, a consecutive term of life without the possibility of parole for shooting Fuerst, with a consecutive term of three years for a great bodily injury enhancement.March 25, 2013 ERIC FRANCIS FAGAN [#87071], 78, of Chula Vista, was placed on interim suspension March 25, 2013, following a conviction for murder and attempted murder. He was ordered to comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court. |