Judge sent down for fiddling
Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:02 pm
http://www.freewebs.com/robillard/
LAWYERS always try to enjoy their work but former Judge Donald D.
Thompson went too far. Last month he was convicted by a jury in
Oklahoma on four counts of indecent exposure by surreptitiously
using a pencil pump in Creek County Court while sitting as a judge
hearing trials in 2002 and 2003. Oh what a terrible morning in
Oklahoma for the judge.
His former court reporter, Lisa Foster, wiped away tears as she gave
evidence that during one of the trials, she heard the pump's
distinctive "sh-sh" sound. The judge had not chosen the most
appropriate moment to take the law into his own hands: it was during
the emotional testimony of the grandfather of a murdered child. Ms
Foster told the jury that the grandfather "was getting real teary-
eyed, and the judge was up there pumping on that pump". It was
sickening, she said. Ms Foster had made a note on the court
transcript. She also alleged that during closing arguments in
another trial, Thompson "shaved his ball" with a disposable
razor. That is, I suppose, one way of indicating to counsel that it
was time to move on to the next submission.
An investigation into Thompson's conduct began after a police
officer who had given evidence in the murder trial, and was puzzled
by unusual noises, looked beneath the judge's desk during the lunch
break and found the device. Perhaps wisely in the circumstances, the
policeman had not asked for "permission to approach the Bench" while
the judge was sitting there.
The jury heard more flaccid evidence from a consultant urologist and
from a man who had served as a juror in Thompson's court who
testified that he had not seen such a device other than in the film
Austin Powers. There was no forensic scientific evidence, although
prosecutors had taken samples from the carpet under the judge's
bench for analysis. As reported by Court TV, the white-handled
sexual device sat on display in the courtroom during Judge
Thompson's trial, a silent witness to whatever indignities it had
experienced, occasionally being picked up and squeezed by a lawyer
eager to make a point. Both prosecution and defence counsel mimed
masturbation to show the jury how the offences were committed, or
could not have been committed.
LAWYERS always try to enjoy their work but former Judge Donald D.
Thompson went too far. Last month he was convicted by a jury in
Oklahoma on four counts of indecent exposure by surreptitiously
using a pencil pump in Creek County Court while sitting as a judge
hearing trials in 2002 and 2003. Oh what a terrible morning in
Oklahoma for the judge.
His former court reporter, Lisa Foster, wiped away tears as she gave
evidence that during one of the trials, she heard the pump's
distinctive "sh-sh" sound. The judge had not chosen the most
appropriate moment to take the law into his own hands: it was during
the emotional testimony of the grandfather of a murdered child. Ms
Foster told the jury that the grandfather "was getting real teary-
eyed, and the judge was up there pumping on that pump". It was
sickening, she said. Ms Foster had made a note on the court
transcript. She also alleged that during closing arguments in
another trial, Thompson "shaved his ball" with a disposable
razor. That is, I suppose, one way of indicating to counsel that it
was time to move on to the next submission.
An investigation into Thompson's conduct began after a police
officer who had given evidence in the murder trial, and was puzzled
by unusual noises, looked beneath the judge's desk during the lunch
break and found the device. Perhaps wisely in the circumstances, the
policeman had not asked for "permission to approach the Bench" while
the judge was sitting there.
The jury heard more flaccid evidence from a consultant urologist and
from a man who had served as a juror in Thompson's court who
testified that he had not seen such a device other than in the film
Austin Powers. There was no forensic scientific evidence, although
prosecutors had taken samples from the carpet under the judge's
bench for analysis. As reported by Court TV, the white-handled
sexual device sat on display in the courtroom during Judge
Thompson's trial, a silent witness to whatever indignities it had
experienced, occasionally being picked up and squeezed by a lawyer
eager to make a point. Both prosecution and defence counsel mimed
masturbation to show the jury how the offences were committed, or
could not have been committed.
