Posted on 08/18/2006 1:38:20 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BRISTOW, Okla. - A former judge convicted of exposing himself while presiding over jury trials by using a sexual device under his robe was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.
Donald Thompson had spent almost 23 years on the bench and had served as a state legislator before retiring from the court in 2004. He showed no reaction when he was sentenced.
At his trial this summer, his former court reporter, Lisa Foster, testified that she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times during trial between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors said he also used a device known as a penis pump during at least four trials in the same period.
Thompson, 59, was convicted last month of four felony courts of indecent exposure for incidents that took place in his Creek County courtroom.
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.
Foster told authorities that she saw 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 Foster's audiotape of the trial. When jurors asked the judge about the sound, 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 Thompson's robe. During a lunch break, officers took photographs of the pump under the desk.
Investigators later checked the carpet, Thompson's robes and the chair behind the bench and found semen, according to court records.
Carmelia Brossett, a senior probation officer for the state Department of Corrections, said in a presentencing report that Thompson refused to undergo psychosexual testing.
"Thompson's denial of the offense would likely present difficulty, if not inability for treatment providers to provide meaningful and beneficial sex-offender treatment," she said.
The jury recommended a sentence of one year in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count. The jury foreman has said it was the jury's intent that Thompson serve the full sentence.
Judge C. Allen McCall denied a defense motion asking that Thompson be allowed to remain free pending an appeal. Thompson was also ordered to pay a $40,000 fine.
Former Creek County Judge Donald Thompson, left, who was convicted in June of four felony counts of indecent exposure, arrives at the Creek County Courthouse in Bristow, Okla. with attorney Clark Brewster at his side. Thompson received a 4-year prison sentence Friday for exposing himself by using a sexual device while presiding over jury trials. (AP Photo/Brandi Simons)
Alright, question is.. why did he get away with this for so long? Fifteen times??? Not to mention doing that other thing FOUR times!! Sheesh!
Stiff sentence....:>)
I hear the sound of appeals being filed right now!
He really needs to get a grip on this problem, you know, take it in hand.
gross..
considering I actually posted something with some content in it, lol
I did search btw, ,, gee what do ya know, Im human.
I have a question, How did they find a jury of his peers in the community?
Now, Norm, don't go off half-cocked. I was only teasing you.
I have a question, How did they find a jury of his peers in the community?
Don't you think that any old stiff would have done?
OK, perhaps I am overwhelmed here by the arcane majesty of the law, but did anyone actually SEE anything besides a piece of rubber tubing, and after a search, the pump? So how do you get to "exposure", of a man wearing a full-length robe, unless this article is leaving out a few details.....
I know, I had another snappy retort but it slipped my mind for the moment. ;-)
Oh geeez.. and I thought getting sent to chat was bad enough, smokey backroom lounge, here we come. , here we come.
lolol
We call him The Hanging judge...
Good thing you didn't post #13.
Hey the courts in session and here cums the judge !!!
I clutched my heart with relief when I saw it wasn't Clarence Thomas
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