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CopperTop
Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 127
Location: South of Next Tuesday
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 Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:49 am Post subject: "Whack Job" judge goes up the river |
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Amazing what you find looking for the local Fry's Electronics ad when online - got this from the Dallas Morning News site:
| Quote: | Judge gets 4 years for exposing himself
Oklahoma man used sexual device under his robes during jury trials
11:10 AM CDT on Saturday, August 19, 2006
By MURRAY EVANS / Associated Press
BRISTOW, Okla. – Former Oklahoma judge Donald Thompson was sent to prison for four years Friday for exposing himself by using a sexual device while presiding over jury trials.
Judge C. Allen McCall also ordered that Mr. Thompson, 59, pay a $40,000 fine. Mr. Thompson was convicted June 29 on four felony courts of indecent exposure for incidents that took place in his courtroom in Creek County.
"This is not just a one-time incident; this is a continuing series of offenses," Judge McCall said during the sentencing hearing.
Judge McCall said he did not believe the accusations against Mr. Thompson were fabricated.
"People who are out to get a judge find an opponent, they don't concoct a story, especially one this bizarre," Judge McCall said.
Mr. Thompson showed no reaction when he was sentenced. Judge McCall denied a defense motion that Mr. Thompson be allowed to remain free pending an appeal. Mr. Thompson was allowed a brief visit with family members before being placed in handcuffs and being taken to the state Correction Department's Lexington Assessment and Reception Center.
Mr. Thompson served as a state legislator and spent almost 23 years on the bench before he retired in 2004. His former court reporter, Lisa Foster, testified at his trial that she saw Mr. Thompson expose himself during trials at least 15 times between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors said he used a device known as a penis pump during four trials between 2002 and 2003.
Mr. Thompson, a married father of three grown children, testified that the penis pump was given to him as a joke by a longtime hunting and fishing buddy.
"It wasn't something I was hiding," he said.
He said he may have absentmindedly squeezed the pump's handle during court cases but never used it to masturbate.
Ms. Foster told authorities that she saw Mr. Thompson use the device almost daily during the August 2003 murder trial of a man accused of shaking a toddler to death. A whooshing sound could be heard on Ms. Foster's audiotape of the trial. When jurors asked the judge about the sound, Mr. Thompson said he hadn't heard it but would listen for it.
Police built a case against the judge after a police officer testifying in a 2003 murder trial saw a piece of plastic tubing disappear under Mr. Thompson's robe. During a lunch break, officers took photographs of the pump under the desk.
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I can understand that a job can get boring and you need a little diversion from time to time, but this is beyond the pale. This is a man that precided over the rule of law and should know that you can't play with your pecker pump in public!
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The two most abuntant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity - Harlan Ellison
Last edited by CopperTop on Sun Aug 20, 2006 3:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Samsally
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 5319
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 4:23 am Post subject: |
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| Why in the hell was that allowed to go on for so long, anyway? Lisa Foster saw it 15 times and never mentioned it to anyone ever? Wouldn't this be something that should be stopped after the -first- trial it occured in? |
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Marik
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 1233
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 10:43 am Post subject: it works like that in my head anyway |
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Oh god, yes, the penis pump premier.
I swear on the bone-shrines of Yum Cimil that if I saw the penis pump during a trial I was in, I'd look at it, then at the judge's face, and say -- very loudly in court --
"What the fuck."
He would probably start saying something about contempt of court, to which I would say
"What. The. Fuck." |
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Michael
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 10432
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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uh nw nw
buh |
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Egregius
Joined: 05 Aug 2006
Posts: 171
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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The mind boggles to make sense of it all.
Then it gives up. |
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Drui
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 541
Location: 'Jersey :}
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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Sick shit, but... 4 years? Isn't the average sentence for manslaughter less than 3 years?
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CopperTop
Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 127
Location: South of Next Tuesday
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Drui wrote: | | Sick shit, but... 4 years? Isn't the average sentence for manslaughter less than 3 years? |
Well, with time off for good behavior (providing the guy keeps his hands to himself and off himself) he's likely to be out in under 24 months.
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The two most abuntant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity - Harlan Ellison |
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Egregius
Joined: 05 Aug 2006
Posts: 171
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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Now that you mention it, it is kinda harsh, but manslaughter probably isn't given such light sentences these days of mandatory sentences and 'harder punishments=less crime'-thinking.
Also: 'Upsetting legal order' probably is an exacerbating (correct word?) circumstance in the US as well. |
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mouse
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 15474
Location: under the bed
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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well, yes - he was, after all, the judge - the guy who (among other things) is supposed to maintain propriety in the court. the idea that he could declare people out of order while...ummmm...you know...
the other thing is, in his role of judging the case, he's supposed to be paying attention to everything that goes on in the trial. one wonders if he might not have occassionally been distracted.
and manslaughter is generally for an accidental death - like in a car accident, where you were at fault, but had no intent to hurt anyone.
as to why it went on so long - well, it is a heirarchical society. if you complain about the higher-ups, they have effective ways of retaliating. i have a friend who is a court reporter, i believe she contracts on a sort of case-by-case basis. she also does a lot of work outside court, taking depositions and things like that. making a complaint against a sitting judge would likely mean a sharp drop in the amount of work she got.
and the case probably took a while to get to court. note that the judge is retired at the age of 59. one suspects his retirement was firmly suggested by the court system.
having said all that: ick. how could anyone in his position even _consider_ behavior like that?
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WheelsOfConfusion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 11148
Location: Unknown Kaddath
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| Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| What I find disturbing is the apparent frequency of use during a murder trial. |
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