SACRAMENTO — Jon Alexander is scheduled to go on trial in a State Bar court this coming week to determine if he should be punished for professional misconduct or pitied for an incredible string of misfortune and maligning.

State Bar prosecutors have charged Alexander, the district attorney of tiny Del Norte County on California’s north coast, with seven counts of wrongdoing ranging from corruption to incompetence. They paint a picture of a reckless lawyer with a history of playing fast and loose with ethical canons.