�Judge's Career Ended by Claims of On-Bench Masturbation
Julie E. Bisbee
The Associated Press
02-09-2005

Jurors and others in Judge Donald Thompson's courtroom kept hearing a strange whooshing noise, like a bicycle pump or maybe a blood pressure cuff. During one trial, Thompson seemed so distracted that some jurors thought he was playing a handheld video game or tying fly-fishing lures behind the bench.

The explanation, investigators say, is even stranger than some imagined: The judge had a habit of masturbating with a penis pump under his robe during trials.

The lurid allegations have brought an embarrassing end to a solid career and shocked many of his colleagues. The case could also lead to a wave of appeals from defendants claiming that the judge was not paying attention while presiding over their cases.

Thompson, a 58-year-old married father of three grown children, has denied the allegations, and he said the pump was just a gag gift received from a friend on his 50th birthday. He retired in August after being threatened with removal but now faces indecent-exposure charges brought against him last month.

"We're certainly saddened by the thought that the prosecutor filed charges," said Clark Brewster, Thompson's attorney. "We thought all this was dealt with when he resigned. We didn't feel like anything that was alleged rose to the level of criminal charges."

The trials during which he allegedly used the pump included murder cases as well as a libel suit.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who filed the paperwork to remove Thompson from the bench, said he would be surprised if the scandal did not lead to appeals. "I don't know if they will be successful. They will still have to show actual prejudice to the point that something was done in error," he said.

Police built a case against the judge after a police officer testified during a 2003 murder trial. From the witness stand, the officer 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 collected carpet samples, Thompson's robes and the chair from behind the bench and found semen, according to court records.

Thompson's court reporter, Lisa Foster, told authorities that she saw him use the pump at least 10 times during trials. She told The Associated Press that the first time in court was in 2000, but she said nothing at the time for fear of retaliation.

Foster told authorities she saw Thompson use the device almost daily during the August 2003 murder trial of Kevin Vomberg, a man accused of shaking a toddler to death. The case ended in a hung jury. The whooshing sound could be heard on Foster's audiotape of the trial.

When jurors at the trial asked the judge about the sound, Thompson said he hadn't heard it, but would listen for it.

"I always thought he was an excellent trial judge," said Don I. Nelson, a prosecutor who tried more than 40 cases before Thompson, including a murder trial during which authorities say Thompson used the pump. "I was completely shocked and couldn't believe it."

Who said our little user forum wasn't out there on the cutting edge of social commentary? I can hardly wait to hear what A.P. Merillat has to say about this!

John, 1890 posts and this is probably the best! Some might say that you have too much time on your hands ... but so did this judge ... well, he must have had more than time on his hands ... hhhmmm ... never mind.

Lee, even though I resolved not to make smart-aleck comments on anyone's posts ever again, except on days that end in "y" -- most especially comments directed at our esteemed John B.'s posts (saw your story on Fox news last night, John) - And, while ignoring the temptation to comment on "Charge of the Court" or some other silly little thing, I can't help but wonder why the defense doesn't offer the explanation that "My client was in one of the most stressful positions in American jurisprudence. His decisions affected the lives and futures of individuals from all walks of life. With one missed intrepretation of a piece of evidence or statement from the witness stand he could have destroyed families, wrecked careers and livelihoods, shut down commerce and even influenced national security...it was his responsibility, ladies and gentlemen,to make sure there were no hinderances to a clear thought process and nothing that would prevent this man from being distracted by built-up libido-generated hormones. But he forsook pride and his own self-image for the greater good of his fellow man, risking and ultimately succumbing to public ridicule. He is not a pervert, he is a self-sacrificing hero of the criminal justice system!"
Or, maybe the ex-judge's lawyer could simply say, "Get another attorney, Weirdo."

I'm glad this story didn't involve any type of cooking alcohol or innovative way of consuming same.

No comment about raising issues on appeal. How is it possible that no one in the Court room saw this occur? That is as troubling as the story itself.

The whooshing sound heard on the court reporter's audiotape of the trial was actually the soft strains of a banjo playing in the background.

I found this sentence quite unbelievable:

"Investigators later collected carpet samples, Thompson's robes and the chair from behind the bench and found semen, according to court records."

Look up in Webster's "self-made man" and the Judge's picture will be there.

Maybe that case had a hung jury because the judge kept making strange, contorted facial expressions, and they thought he was commenting on the evidence. And doesn't this sort of lend a new meaning to "hung jury"?

Ex-Judge Likely to Testify in Case Accusing Him of Indecent Exposure

Kelly Kurt
The Associated Press
06-13-2006
Once considered one of Creek County, Okla.'s most powerful men, Donald Thompson struggles these days just to show his face in the hometown where he's accused of showing much, much more, his lawyer says.

But if necessary, the former district judge will testify in his own defense in a trial that began Monday on charges he exposed himself during court proceedings, attorney Clark Brewster said.

"These kind of allegations are so humiliating, so sensational," he said, calling Thompson a "quiet and humble man" who has been driven deeper into privacy by scandalous and false accusations.

Thompson served for more than two decades on the bench in eastern Oklahoma before his retirement in 2004 amid allegations he had exposed himself by using a sex toy during courtroom testimony.

After repeated court delays, the 59-year-old married father of three adult children was ordered in January to stand trial on four felony counts of indecent exposure, as well as a misdemeanor alleging he had lewd photos of himself and a woman on a state-owned computer.

It's rare for criminal charges to be filed against a judge, especially for a crime alleged to have taken place while the judge was on the bench, said Cynthia Gray, director of the Center for Judicial Ethics at the American Judicature Society.

A West Virginia circuit judge resigned in 1997 and pleaded no contest to battery charges for biting the nose of a defendant. A municipal judge in New Mexico was convicted in 2003 for rape and charges he used his power as a judge to cause a woman to perform sexual favors in exchange for judicial leniency in a traffic case. And every year, Gray said, a few judges face drunken driving charges.

Most misconduct allegations, however, are handled by judicial disciplinary commissions, she said.

Thompson's longtime court clerk testified in his preliminary hearing that she saw the judge use a device called a "penis pump" during several trials, including the murder trial of a man accused of shaking a toddler to death. That case ended in a hung jury.

Foster said she was afraid to go to police and told her story only after being subpoenaed. She became tearful when she described learning in September 2003 that police had found a pump and were investigating the judge, who was well-known and well-liked in the small town where he had grown up.

Thompson denies the charges and has said the pump seized in the case was a gag gift from a friend. He fired Foster after the investigation began and she later sued over her termination.

The trial has been moved to Bristow, 20 miles west of the courtroom where Thompson served. But choosing a jury to hear the highly publicized case likely will be difficult, said special prosecutor Richard Smothermon.

"I think it will be a relief to everybody to resolve this case," he said, referring to the repeated trial delays.

Concerns that the allegations against Thompson would touch off a wave of appeals from defendants alleging he didn't pay attention during their trial has not been realized. The issue has been raised only in the case of convicted murderer Darrin Lynn Pickens, whose death sentence was voided by a state appeals court in December.

The appeals court, however, based its ruling on Pickens' claims of mental retardation.

The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office doesn't believe a conviction in Thompson's case will automatically bring more challenges, said spokeswoman Emily Lang.

"They would have to prove he was incompetent," she said, "and we think we could fight those challenges."

If convicted, Thompson faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine on each felony charge and would have to register as a sex offender upon his release. The $7,489.91 he draws each month in retirement benefits also would be jeopardized by a conviction.

Thompson refuses to consider a plea bargain, Brewster said, "because the allegations are completely false."

quote:

---

The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office doesn't believe a conviction in Thompson's case will automatically bring more challenges, said spokeswoman Emily Lang.

"They would have to prove he was incompetent," she said, "and we think we could fight those challenges."

---

Proving once again that the average person could do a judge's job with one hand tied behind his back ... [INSERT PUNCH-LINE HERE]

Awkward moments abound in penis pump trial

By SHAUN SCHAFER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jun 28


Serving on the jury in an indecent-exposure trial unfolding in this conservative Oklahoma town has been a giggle-inducing experience.

Former Judge Donald D. Thompson, a veteran of 23 years on the bench, is on trial on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of others.

Over the past few days, the jurors have watched a defense attorney and a prosecutor pantomime masturbation. A doctor has lectured on the lengths the defendant was willing to go to enhance his sexual performance.

The white-handled sexual device sits before the jury box for hours at a time. Occasionally an attorney picks it up and squeezes the handle, demonstrating the "sh-sh" sound of air rushing through the contraption's plastic tubing.

The jurors sometimes exchange awkward looks and break into nervous laughter when the testimony takes a lurid turn.

Thompson, 59, is charged with four counts of indecent exposure, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, he would also have to register as a sex offender, and his $7,489.91-a-month pension would be in jeopardy.

Thompson's former court reporter, Lisa Foster, wiped away tears as she described tracing an unfamiliar "sh-sh" in the courtroom to her boss. She testified that between 2001 and 2003 she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times.

"I was really shocked and I was kind of scared because it was so bizarre," said Foster.

She testified that during a trial in 2002, she heard the pump during the emotional testimony of a murdered toddler's grandfather.

The grandfather "was getting real teary-eyed, and the judge was up there pumping on that pump," she said. "It was sickening."

The allegations came to light after a police officer who was in Thompson's court heard pumping sounds and took photos of the device during a break in the proceedings.

Thompson took the stand in his own defense, saying the device was a gag gift from a longtime friend with whom he had joked about erectile dysfunction. He said he kept the pump under the bench or in his office but didn't use it.

"In 20-20 hindsight, I should have thrown it away," he said.

The R-rated testimony has produced occasional outbursts of laughter and surreal scenes. A man who once served as a juror in Thompson's court testified that he never saw the device, but figured out what it was based on movies he had seen.

The comment sent sidelong glances through the courtroom.

"It sounded like a penis pump to me," Daniel Greenwood testified. He said he had seen such devices in "Austin Powers" and "Dead Man on Campus."

Dr. S. Edward Dakil, a urologist called as an expert witness, repeatedly prompted laughter from the jury when discussion turned to the penis pump. Dakil defended use of the device after defense attorney Clark Brewster said it was an out-of-date treatment for erectile dysfunction.

"I still use those," Dakil testified.

Brewster paused.

"Not you, personally?" he asked.

"No," Dakil responded as jurors laughed. "I recommend those as a urologist."

quote:

---

"It sounded like a penis pump to me," Daniel Greenwood testified. He said he had seen such devices in "Austin Powers" and "Dead Man on Campus."

---

"I'm tellin' you, baby, that's not mine!" (.wav file)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JUDGES_KIDNEY?SITE=ININS&SECTION=HEALTH&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-06-29-18-50-13

------------------------------------------------
Jun 29, 6:50 PM EDT

Judge donates kidney to ailing prosecutor

By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press Writer

LAKESIDE PARK, Ky. (AP) -- A federal magistrate has donated a kidney to an ailing prosecutor who often appeared before him, solving a medical problem but causing perhaps a sticky legal one.

E.J. Walbourn, 54, was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2000, and his condition deteriorated faster than doctors expected. The prosecutor was on dialysis while awaiting a new kidney.

After years of appearing in Judge J. Gregory Wehrman's courtroom, Walbourn approached the jurist late last year with a personal plea: Would he be willing to donate one of his kidneys?

"He was seriously ill and could use some assistance," Wehrman recalled in an interview. "It's not very often that that opportunity comes by in life."

After extensive tests, the judge was found to be a match.

Doctors removed a kidney from the 62-year-old judge on June 20 and implanted it in Walbourn. Within days, both men were out of the hospital.

"You can't describe the words - just gratitude," Walbourn said Thursday while having lunch at the judge's home in this Cincinnati suburb. "Someone who was actually willing to give me part of them so that I could get my life back. The words 'thank you' seem so inadequate."

The judge learned of Walbourn's situation a year ago when the assistant U.S. attorney asked if he could bring his cell phone into the courtroom. Walbourn explained that he did not want to miss a call that might tell him a donor kidney had been found.

As they talked, the judge offered to donate one of his kidneys. Walbourn thanked him but said his wife was undergoing tests as a potential donor. Months later, those plans changed when another round of testing ruled out Walbourn's wife as a potential donor.

So the prosecutor asked Wehrman if he was still willing to donate a kidney.

The judge had no second thoughts. "I had just watched E.J. deteriorate over a period of years," he said.

Walbourn now has more energy and is able to eat foods he once had to avoid. He expects to ease back into work next month and looks forward to family vacations and watching his two children graduate from college.

And the relationship between judge and prosecutor has changed forever, even in the courtroom.

"This is a man who saved my life," Walbourn said. "It can't be only professional anymore. I have the utmost respect and admiration and love for him for having done this."

For years, Walbourn appeared in Wehrman's courtroom at least once a week. Now those appearances will be limited.

"Because his integrity is just above reproach, I would never put him in a position to have anyone ever want to question him," Walbourn said.

James Fischer, a professor at the Southwestern University law school in Los Angeles, said Wehrman "sounds like a real hero" and he would not "have the slightest hesitation" about arguing a case before the judge, even if Walbourn was the prosecutor.

But he acknowledged that others might take a different view.

"It could be a knotty little thing," he said. "Because I could see a disappointed litigant saying, `Well, you obviously must like this U.S. attorney a lot to have donated a kidney. Now you ruled against me, and I'm going to take it up on appeal.'"

The judge said he considers Walbourn a part of his family - "until death do us part." The prosecutor agrees.

"Both of our families have been through a lot together," Walbourn said.

Am I missing something? Like, some context, maybe?

I'm right there with you. I figure AlexLayman didn't read the whole thread and was basing the submission on the title (regarding novel appellate issues, if you don't know any better). Although, I suppose kidneys and penises do have the urological tract in common, so maybe it was intentional. That, and the story was very...touching. (first class ticket - is there room, AP? )

Well the trial is over, the verdict is in, and the sentence is announced--four years. Here's a link to a story released this afternoon.

Judge Gets Four Years

Janette Ansolabehere

Judge gets 4 years for exposing himself
The Associated Press
Aug. 18, 2006, 3:28PM


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.

Are those sentences stacked?

He "absentmindedly" squeezed a penis pump while on the bench? Oh, that's rich.

We just finished a trial in which the defendant's explanation for daily fondling of his girlfriend's male child (age 12) was, "I was checking to see if he wet the bed."

Not. Guilty. Pen time.