Trial dates are always a moving target because of evidence to be gathered and pretrial matters to be resolved, but a trial has been particularly elusive in the case of Melvin Fink, a southern Vermont attorney charged in 2019 with sexual misconduct.
Fink, now 80, has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct. He is accused of assaulting a woman at her home in the town of Peru in July 2017, when she and Fink reportedly met to discuss a court case involving her family. Police said she had arranged to meet at his office, but Fink switched the location to her home in a call earlier that day.
Fink’s case is scheduled for jury selection in Bennington Superior criminal court on Nov. 7 — at least the eighth time in four and a half years he has been given an appointment with potential jurors.
Meanwhile, Fink remains a practicing attorney with an office in Ludlow, though his law license was suspended for 30 days earlier this year due to professional misconduct.
The Vermont Professional Responsibility Board found that Fink had violated state rules for lawyers’ conduct by directly communicating with a man whose wife he was representing in divorce proceedings when he didn’t have consent from the man’s attorney. The Vermont Supreme Court upheld the board’s finding.
In Fink’s criminal case, documents and court discussions show that his attorney and prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office have been going back and forth on some evidence-related issues. They include obtaining some of the complainant’s medical records and getting a doctor from out of state to testify in person.
When asked what has caused delays in the case, and whether the prosecution believes Fink’s trial will finally push through in November, the attorney general’s chief of staff, Lauren Jandl, declined to comment beyond saying the office “is ready for trial.” The office declined to provide further details, citing the open prosecution.
Fink referred questions about the case’s status to his attorney, David Sleigh. Sleigh couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
Lewd and lascivious conduct is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The Professional Responsibility Board also began investigating Fink in 2019 after he was charged with sexual misconduct. The administrative case will remain on hold until Fink’s criminal prosecution is concluded, the board’s disciplinary counsel earlier said.
After the coronavirus pandemic reached Vermont in March 2020, state jury trials were put on hold for 14 months to mitigate the spread of the virus. This has contributed to a court backlog in cases.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the nature of the charges Fink faced.
