ROCKLAND — A Camden licensed professional counselor has sued the former district attorney and two current prosecutors in Knox County, claiming they defamed him.
The lawsuit on behalf of Paul Kemberling was filed Jan. 9 in Knox County Superior Court. The lawsuit accuses former District Attorney Jonathan Liberman, Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Baroody, and Assistant District Attorney Christopher Fernald of defamation, slander, fraud, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and civil conspiracy.
The lawsuit claims that starting in February, Baroody and Fernald communicated to potential clients that Kemberling had a lack of professionalism. The lawsuit states that there were emails from the prosecutors to attorneys informing them that they could use any counselor for evaluating clients except for Kemberling.
The prosecutors pointed out that the district attorney’s office had prosecuted Kemberling’s son and they were concerned that the counselor could not be fair and neutral in his evaluations.
Evaluations are often required before the district attorney’s office will reach plea agreements with defendants.
The lawsuit includes a copy of a couple emails from Baroody and Fernald to a local attorney which advises him to no longer use Kemberling because they don’t believe he can be fair and neutral in his evaluations. The lawsuit claims that these emails went out to other defense lawyers as well.
Marc Malon, legislative liaison for the Maine Office of the Attorney General, said Friday that as this was an ongoing litigation, Liberman, Baroody, and Fernald have no comment at this time.
Kemberling’s son Eli Kemberling was sentenced in July 2015 to serve three years in prison for breaking into two homes and assaulting women while they slept, once bringing a knife with him into the bedroom. The district attorney’s office prosecuted the son.
Liberman is now an assistant district attorney in Cumberland County.
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