‘My intent is to have a healthy, alive son’: Spokane attorney suspended, warrants sought for his arrest

His reputation as an effective, hard-nosed defense attorney on the line, Joe Kuhlman approached the stand to cross-examine the woman who had just testified that his cocaine addiction was affecting his health and making him unqualified to represent his client.

It was an extraordinary moment in the trial of a Spokane Valley teacher accused of trying to kill his ex-wife. The court proceedings had been halted to examine Kuhlman’s fitness as a lawyer.

Kuhlman questioned the woman’s mental health. He accused her of harassing him. He asked her whether she knew that he had sought a no-contact order against her.

But Kuhlman’s mom didn’t flinch as she faced her son and answered his questions.

“My intent is to have a healthy, alive son,” Maggi Broggel said. “This is an incredible moment right now in my life, one that I certainly would never have expected to be doing.

“It is gut-wrenching. But Joe’s health and Joe’s life is worth anything I can do, and that’s why I’m here.”

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Anderson also noticed Kuhlman’s behavior had “deteriorated” and declared a mistrial.

That was on Halloween.

Kuhlman, 43, has since been suspended by the Washington Supreme Court from practicing law and ordered to pay three former clients $16,000, according to court documents. Furthermore, he is wanted on two criminal warrants for skipping court hearings last year: one for a DUI in Spokane County and the other for drug possession in Pend Oreille County after U.S. Customs officers found cocaine in his car at the Canadian border crossing, according to court records.

Kuhlman declined to comment for this story.

The mistrial

Last fall, Kuhlman was representing Benjamin J. Hill , a former East Valley High School special education teacher accused of shooting at his ex-wife and her property multiple times.

On the fourth day of the trial, Broggel came to the courthouse and spoke to Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Dale Nagy during a trial recess.

Nagy wrote in court documents that Broggel told him Kuhlman admitted to using cocaine and said he “should not be representing anyone.” Nagy wrote that he reported Broggel’s concerns to the judge.

Broggel, who said she’s a registered nurse of 44 years, told the judge she had “great concern” for her son.

“I’ve observed him to be unsteady, confused, slurring words, evasive, admitting to me that he’s used cocaine” in the month leading up to the trial, she said.

She noted when he came into court his “gait was off” as if he was “struggling even to walk straight.”

“I’m observing him being very confused right now and upset,” she said. “And I understand why. I get that. But Joe does not look like the Joe that I knew.”

Nagy said his highest priorities were Kuhlman’s health and Hill’s right to proper trial representation.

“I’ve had the honor of knowing Mr. Kuhlman for a long time, and we are willing to do anything the court decides to do in this case,” Nagy said.

Kuhlman said during his cross-examination that a few years ago during the holiday season, Broggel contacted his social and professional contacts, including his rabbi and counselor, claiming he was bipolar and suicidal. Broggel responded, saying she believed her son’s mental health was in “danger.”

“I remember being incredibly distraught during that Christmas period,” she said. “I remember contacting all of those people. I do not concur that the behavior was or that my thoughts were incorrect. In fact, I think that’s correct what I thought, and I think that’s what brings us here today.”

She said her son has been in a “very bad spot” and in “great need of some help” since that Christmas.

“And I have stayed with this line of thinking, along with others, for several years now,” Broggel said. “And now I’m very, very worried about you. And it was not my intent to come here today to do this. This is a shock to me. I am stunned … But I am here because of you. And I have a love for you that supersedes any amount of my being uncomfortable.”

Anderson also noted issues with Kuhlman.

“You have over the past four days we’ve been in trial, your behavior has deteriorated to the fact that today you have been exhibiting an unsteady gait,” Anderson said. “You’ve had trouble tracking, you’ve been mumbling to yourself between questions. You’ve not been the attorney that this court has seen in the past as far as coherence, processing, attention.”

Anderson said her concern was about Kuhlman’s ability to perform his job for Hill. She also supported Broggel’s cognitive abilities, saying she spoke “deliberately,” “coherently” and made sense about her concerns for her son and the judicial process.”

Anderson said Broggel’s testimony provided context to what she observed from Kuhlman during the trial.

Anderson ruled Kuhlman was “not competent” and disqualified him as Hill’s attorney.

Hill said he spent 1½ years waiting for a trial and hired Kuhlman on his “own free will.”

“And I trust he would not be here today if he did not feel that he was following every duty to fulfill his responsibilities as my attorney,” Hill told the judge.

Anderson told Hill that her ruling on Kuhlman’s competence was something “no court wants to do. And it is a very sad day.”

Kuhlman objected and wrote in court documents he was “completely blindsided” by his mother’s testimony.

Steven Clark took over Hill’s representation for that Halloween day before new attorneys were appointed. Clark said he didn’t witness Broggel’s testimony, but spoke to Kuhlman about the preceding events after he arrived to court.

Clark has known Kuhlman for several years as a colleague.

He said Kuhlman made his name on serious felony cases, some of them murder cases, that often went to trial.

“Frankly, he had a pretty good record of getting pretty good results in those cases,” Clark said.

Kuhlman outlined those results in an Oct. 25 court proceeding, when he said he believed his record at the time for serious, violent felony litigation was 6-2 and his “class A special assault record” was 4-0.

“I am more than capable and competent of serious, violent felony litigation,” said Kuhlman, looking to take over a child assault case from attorney Kenneth Zigler, who was backing out of the case.

Kuhlman said he was the youngest person to receive the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ President’s Award, which recognizes distinguished service.

Clark said Kuhlman’s courtroom style is “more confrontational” than his, saying Kuhlman tended to be aggressive in making his arguments.

It was not uncommon to see Kuhlman in a “low-grade shouting match with a prosecutor,” Clark said.

“His style that I’ve seen in court was usually pretty aggressive, pushing the issue and advocating on his client’s behalf in a very forward manner,” he said.

The Kuhlman Law Office’s website indicates Kuhlman also handles cases that include firearms restoration, protection orders and family law.

Kuhlman worked as a Spokane County deputy prosecutor for six years before resigning in 2017 for undisclosed reasons, according to previous Spokesman-Review reporting. An Inlander story that ran about five months after Kuhlman resigned stated he was the subject of at least three Human Resources investigations related to alleged sexual harassment of women during his time at the prosecutor’s office.

Since the mistrial, Hill’s new attorneys, Dawson Osborn, Michelle Hess and Emily Hazen from the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office, filed an array of unsuccessful and amended motions that picked apart Broggel’s testimony, as well as statements, court filings and conduct by prosecutors and judges. The motions called for disqualifying the entire Spokane County Superior Court bench and the entire Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office from the Hill case; dismissing the case against Hill, citing double jeopardy; and releasing him from jail.

Some of the defense’s objections surrounding Broggel’s testimony and the subsequent mistrial included Anderson holding Broggel’s testimony outside the jury’s presence, not providing notice to Kuhlman and Hill that Broggel would testify, not allowing Kuhlman to complete his cross examination of his mother, and that disqualifying Kuhlman violated Hill’s right to choose his own counsel.

The defense alleged “ex parte communications” between Nagy and Anderson, using a legal term that implies improper discussion, after Broggel told Nagy her concerns about her son. In court records, they claimed, “The Court sought out Ms. Broggel’s testimony.”

“Mr. Hill and his counsel were left in the dark as the State and the Court worked against them,” the defense wrote.

In one court document, the defense called the mistrial and events that led up to it an “apparent assassination attempt” on Kuhlman’s legal career, saying the court and prosecutors “violated every right that he enjoys as an accused.”

“Mr. Nagy’s and Judge Anderson’s actions thrust Mr. Kuhlman into an unconscionable scenario: cross-examining his mother during Mr. Hill’s trial,” the defense wrote in another document.

Nagy wrote he had an obligation to report Broggel’s information to the court and that he only communicated with Anderson’s judicial assistant, not Anderson, before Broggel’s testimony. He said the trial was not “compromised in any way.”

Despite the motions, Anderson continues to preside over the case, Nagy still is prosecuting, and Hill remains in the Spokane County Jail on a $1.85 million bond.

Last month, Anderson ordered Hill’s proceedings to halt, pending a state Court of Appeals review of the order denying Hill’s motion to dismiss the case.

Hill’s co-defendant and fiancée, 43-year-old Lori M. Thom, was also facing attempted murder, assault and drive-by shooting charges, but they were dismissed last month after Nagy reported in documents that a detective, a critical witness in the case, is on medical leave until September. The prosecution can refile the case.

Two days after the Hill mistrial, a professional interventionist, family members and Kuhlman’s colleagues met at Kuhlman’s house for an intervention, according to Broggel in court documents. She said Kuhlman agreed to fly with the interventionist to Southern California and check in for a 30-day treatment program.

On Nov. 4, after two days at the rehab, Broggel was notified by staff that Kuhlman had left the facility and flown home.

The Kuhlman Law Office notified Superior Court and deputy prosecutors in a Nov. 4 email that Kuhlman was taking an “emergency medical leave” and would return to the office in about a month, according to Nagy in documents.

A suspension

The Washington Supreme Court suspended Kuhlman from practicing law, effective Feb. 26.

Kuhlman didn’t respond to three grievances filed by his former clients, did not provide documents related to his representation of the clients despite a subpoena and failed to appear at a Jan. 6 deposition at the state bar association offices in Seattle to testify about the grievances, according to the disciplinary counsel in documents.

“By refusing to respond to the grievances, provide records, or appear at the deposition, Respondent has impeded and delayed the disciplinary process,” the disciplinary counsel wrote.

Kuhlman failed to appear before the state Supreme Court Feb. 25, and the court that day unanimously determined to grant the petition for the interim suspension.

The disciplinary counsel received grievances from three of Kuhlman’s former clients from July to September. The grievances alleged Kuhlman failed to adequately represent the clients, appear at court hearings, communicate with his clients and return fees.

Kuhlman responded to one of the grievances after the disciplinary counsel’s deadline with an Oct. 24 voicemail stating he was on vacation taking time with his father before he died, and that he would respond to the grievance shortly, but never did.

The disciplinary counsel called the voicemail “false and misleading,” according to documents.

A disciplinary counsel investigator said she spoke Oct. 28 with Broggel, who informed her that Kuhlman’s father had not died and was still living with Broggel in Coeur d’Alene.

Broggel told the investigator her husband had a stroke in June 2024 but that he was “not terminal by any means.” Broggel spoke to the investigator again in January and said Kuhlman was vacationing in Mexico in October and that Broggel does not recall Kuhlman spending any significant time with his father after he was released from the hospital that July.

Lindee Treweek, Kuhlman’s partner, told Broggel three days before the start of the Hill trial that Kuhlman detoxed and was in “significant physical distress” while the couple vacationed in Mexico that month, Broggel wrote in documents related to the no-contact order Kuhlman had been seeking.

Treweek told Broggel that Kuhlman brought cocaine to Mexico in a pill bottle and emptied out the pill capsules and filled them with cocaine. She said he was using cocaine every 30 minutes.

Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell filed a grievance in March to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel for “repeated attempts” by Kuhlman to contact county deputy prosecutors to discuss cases and sign off on continuance requests after Kuhlman had been suspended from practicing law, according to a grievance document Kuhlman provided to The Spokesman-Review in March.

“This has caused a lot of alarm and concern in light of the suspension handed down by our Supreme Court on February 26, 2025,” Haskell wrote.

Judges ordered Kuhlman to pay three former clients a combined $16,430 in the Small Claims Division of Spokane County District Court after the clients alleged similar complaints listed in the grievances.

One of the clients, Russell Corkrum, told The Spokesman-Review an attorney was representing him , but got sick and referred him to Kuhlman, whom Corkrum paid a $7,000 fee. Corkrum said his original attorney then decided to continue the case and reached a quick resolution.

Corkrum told Kuhlman to return his money, but Kuhlman didn’t want to give the money back, telling Corkrum he would still need his attorney services despite the case being resolved, according to court records. He said Kuhlman also didn’t answer his calls, messages or emails, documents say.

Law run-ins

A Washington State Patrol trooper pulled over Kuhlman in the Lexus RX he was driving the evening of Feb. 8, 2024, on Interstate 90 near the western edge of Spokane, according to court documents. He was cited on suspicion of DUI.

Kuhlman failed to appear for a May 16 pretrial hearing, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest with bail set at $5,000, according to documents.

The month after his DUI charge , Kuhlman was cited on suspicion of misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance after U.S. Customs officers found 6.5 grams of cocaine in his car at a border crossing near Metaline Falls, according to a Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office incident report. Officers told a sheriff’s deputy they found the cocaine and drug paraphernalia inside a small cubby under the rear cargo area near the spare tire of Kuhlman’s Lexus RX.

Officers also found a Kimber .45 pistol with three magazines and boxes of ammunition, which were found in a black carry bag, according to documents.

Kuhlman and his partner were re-entering the U.S. after a trip to Canada for their anniversary, Kuhlman told a sheriff’s deputy. Kuhlman denied the cocaine was his and said it could have belonged to one of the people he shot guns with in Washington days earlier, court records show.

One year later on March 26, a judge issued a warrant for Kuhlman because he failed to appear for a court date that day, according to a Pend Oreille County District Court deputy clerk.

Kuhlman’s defense

In mid-October, a couple of weeks before the mistrial in the Hill case, a hair follicle drug test revealed Kuhlman tested negative for amphetamine, methamphetamines, cocaine, opiates and phencyclidine, according to medical records provided in court documents for the no-contact order petition. He tested positive for THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana that produces a high feeling.

Kuhlman filed the drug test results to rebut the allegations made by Broggel, according to documents.

Mary Cate Leonard, nurse practitioner at Sweet Health Care in Sandpoint, wrote in a letter she was upset with the judicial system that Kuhlman, her patient, felt compelled to release his medical information.

Attached in the fax, which included a letter and drug results, Leonard wrote a patient’s right to privacy “should not be compromised in legal proceedings or forced to dispel rumors.”

“As a medical professional bound by the principles of privacy and confidentiality, I must stress that it is deeply concerning that I am being asked to present sensitive medical information in a legal setting, not in the interest of justice, but as a consequence of what appears to be a personal vendetta,” Leonard wrote.

“To refute accusations against him, my patient has willingly undergone a comprehensive drug and analysis, demonstrating his fitness and integrity as a lawyer, whom every employee in my office would turn to if they were in a similar situation,” Leonard continued. “He has authorized me to share the results of this analysis, although I find it abhorrent and dehumanizing. Despite my strong advice against disclosing his medical information, Mr. Kuhlman insisted that I provide his record, believing it may help resolve this ongoing matter.”

Worry from colleagues

Emails among Kuhlman’s colleagues indicate concerns about the defense attorney in the months leading up to the mistrial.

One email chain consisted of Spokane County Superior Court Judges Tony Hazel and Timothy Fennessy, Spokane Municipal Court Judge Kristin O’Sullivan, Spokane City Prosecutor Justin Bingham and Dan Crystal, manager of the Washington State Bar Association Member Wellness Program, according to documents. Kuhlman was not part of the emails.

People on the email chain noted Kuhlman had missed court hearings, and they worried about his behavior. Fennessy, who lost his re-election for judge bid in the fall, emailed the group Aug. 19 that he spoke with Kuhlman directly to express the Superior Court bench’s concerns about his behavior and attendance, and that Kuhlman needed to address his issues. Fennessy wrote that Kuhlman told him he understood and thanked him for their concern.

O’Sullivan wrote she was still seeing “concerning behavior” from Kuhlman in Municipal Court.

“Unfortunately, we have not seen any change despite multiple attempts at intervention,” O’Sullivan wrote. “I am not sure how much longer we can allow the concerns to continue without further action.”

On Aug. 20, Hazel emailed O’Sullivan directly, saying he didn’t know what to do about Kuhlman other than report him to the state bar association.

Crystal responded to the group that day that Kuhlman resisted outreaches and expressed concern about who was reaching out to Crystal.

“I’d be happy to try again in a couple months, but I would not hold out hope that he is going to get motivated to change based on my outreaches,” Crystal wrote.

On Oct. 11, Crystal included Kuhlman’s stepsister, Seattle attorney Marisa Broggel, on the email chain. Crystal wrote that Marisa Broggel contacted his program alarmed about recent events with Kuhlman.

During the week of the Hill trial, Bingham emailed attorneys with the city prosecutor’s office saying Kuhlman struggles with addiction, and his family asked that prosecutors who have seen “questionable representation of clients” report it to the bar association, according to documents.

“Joe’s family is desperate to save his life and they feel keeping him out of the courtroom will help them do that, as well as protect unsuspecting clients from harm,” Bingham wrote.

Kate Kuhlman Wood, Kuhlman’s sister, wrote in documents related to the no-contact order petition that her mother, Maggi Broggel, tried to help Kuhlman the past year, and more intensely over the past few months, with Kuhlman’s addiction to cocaine. She wrote her brother has been using cocaine for several years.

“However, it is my opinion that he now is addicted, and his dysfunctional behavior has grown more severe,” Kuhlman-Wood wrote. “It is affecting not only health, but his relationships, both professionally and personally.”

Kuhlman-Wood, a doctor, said she’s concerned his health is in “significant decline.”

“My mother has done all she can, as have I, to provide a pathway for treatment for Joseph,” she wrote. “Margaret Broggel has not stalked nor abused Joseph Kuhlman. He has lied and manipulated my family and refuses help. This no contact order is another way for Joseph to have no accountability for his drug use and to continue unfettered and unbothered by our family’s attempts to help. My goal is for this no contact order to be dismissed and my brother to once again be the sober, brilliant man I know he has the capacity to be.”