The attorney for former Broward Circuit Judge Ana I. Gardiner is asking the Florida Supreme Court to accept the referee's recommended one-year suspension rather than The Florida Bar's request for disbarment.

Gardiner, who voluntarily stopped practicing law more than a year ago, was found guilty of ethical misconduct for misrepresenting her relationship in 2007 during a murder trial handled by Howard Scheinberg when he was the lead prosecutor in her court in a capital murder trial.