NEW ORLEANS -- The Louisiana Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney sent to prison for failing to report a judge's wrongdoing in the divorce case between fried chicken king Al Copeland and his third wife, Luan Hunter.

Bryan M. White's dealings with former Judge Ronald Bodenheimer involved deceit and dishonesty which show him morally unfit to practice law, the court said in a 6-1 decision Tuesday.

Chief Justice Pascal Calogero's one-line handwritten dissent said he would have suspended White's license for three years.

White's license had been suspended since June 2003, about four months after he pleaded guilty to concealing knowledge of a felony -- a conspiracy by Bodenheimer and others to intimidate Luan Hunter and deprive her of her right to trial by an impartial judge. A month earlier, White was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.

White was not the divorce attorney. He was a corporate attorney for Copeland; the Supreme Court said that in contentious litigation in 2001, he acted as a personal representative for Copeland, who died in March.

Among other things, the unsigned opinion said, he admitted discussing trial strategy with Bodenheimer and arranging for the judge's daughter and friends to obtain free drinks and appetizers at one of Copeland's restaurants.

As an example of the strategy discussions, the ruling said that when White called to schedule a hearing for Copeland to describe his complaints against Hunter, the judge suggested that Copeland's attorneys file a request that he find her in contempt of court.

"We're disappointed that the court didn't follow the recommendation of the disciplinary counsel that he receive a three-year suspension, but we're pleased they decided he should not be permanently disbarred, which makes him immediately eligible for readmission" to the bar, said Dane Ciolino, White's attorney.

The case spun out of the FBI's Operation Wrinkled Robe, a 5 1/2-year investigation of state judges in Jefferson Parish and their relationship with bail bondsman Louis Marcotte.

Court-ordered wiretaps and video cameras in the parish courthouse were part of evidence that brought 14 convictions. The investigation also resulted in a U.S. House Judiciary Committee vote in September to investigate whether to impeach a federal judge who was on the Jefferson Parish bench until 1994.

Bodenheimer was one of two state judges sent to federal prison. He pleaded guilty to scheming to fix Copeland's custody case and to having an FBI informant framed on a drug charge, as well as to involvement with Bail Bonds Unlimited. He agreed in 2003 to resign permanently from law rather than face judicial discipline.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)