Government attorneys faced tough, Sixth Amendment-related questions from an appeals panel Wednesday in a dispute over a Baltimore attorney’s 2021 conspiracy conviction.

“You’re saying the representation of [a drug dealer] is the act of conspiracy, but he got paid to be a lawyer,” said Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Roger Gregory during the lengthy remote hearing for former Murphy, Falcon & Murphy attorney Kenneth Ravenell who was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering charges in relation to his legal work for several Baltimore drug dealers in the early aughts.