Missouri Supreme Court suspends lawyer who used a slur

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court suspended a southwest Missouri lawyer who referred to a federal judge using a racial slur.

The Springfield News- Leader reported a disciplinary order announced Tuesday shows Jason Henry has been suspended indefinitely from practicing law for his comments about Senior U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr., who presides in the Western District of Missouri.

Court documents show in September 2014, Gaitan denied a petition Henry filed on behalf of an imprisoned client, and 10 days later Henry sent his client's wife an email in which he referred to Gaitan as a racial slur.

Henry later apologized, calling his remarks "horrible."

But investigators wrote Henry's behavior at a disciplinary hearing in February "cast doubt on the veracity of (Henry's) remorse."