TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Longtime St. Petersburg attorney Richard Salvatore Amari faces suspension following a July 12 Florida Supreme Court order and his guilty plea to cocaine and alcohol-related charges, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"In May 2018, the state filed its amended felony information, charging Amari with possession of cocaine, a third-degree felony, and driving under the influence and refusal to submit to drug testing, misdemeanor offenses," the state bar said in its July 26 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. "Amari pleaded guilty to the three charges, with the court withholding adjudication on the felony offense. In January he violated his probation for the felony charge and entered a plea of guilty to the possession of cocaine felony, a third-degree felony."
In its two-page order, following a notice of judgment of guilt filed with the court July 12, the state Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Amari and referred the matter to the 19th Judicial Circuit Court for the appointment of a referee. Amari's suspension will be effective 30 days from the date of the court's order to allow him time to close his practice and protect his existing clients' interests, according to the high court's order.
Florida court orders are not final until time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion does not alter the effective date of Amari's suspension.
Amari was admitted to the bar in Florida on Nov. 14, 1980, according to his profile at the state bar website.
In a previous discipline, Amari, then practicing at Merritt Island, was indefinitely suspended following a May 2008 court order after his guilty plea in February 2007 for possession of cocaine in a driving under the influence. A judge in Brevard County placed Amari on two years' probation at the time. He was reinstated following a January 2011 Supreme Court order, which also placed Amari on three years' probation.