Judges aren't perfect. They can be accused of improper conduct and even impeached. Judge Thomas Porteous. Of course allegations are not limited to domestic officers of the court as allegations of misconduct can occur anywhere. LINK . Judges can even be accused of falling in love. Judge Verla Sue Holland. However, this next story has all the hooks, guns, drugs, prostitution, undercover agents and sex. Get an extra shot of java and prepare for factual allegations that are better than any drama seen on public television.
Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Camp Jr., a federal judge in Georgia, has been arrested on drug and weapons charges. Federal agents say the suspender wearing judge has more than love stains on his chin. The judge is accused of buying drugs for a stripper from the Goldrush Showbar in Atlanta with whom he was having an affair. And during the alleged transaction, the judge was apparently packing heat.
The official charges are possession of cocaine, marijuana and Roxicodone (pain pill). In addition, the judge is charged with possessing a firearm as an unlawful user of controlled substances and with aiding and abetting the possession of drugs by the stripper. (The woman has a prior drug conviction.) So just how did this presumably intelligent judge get caught falling to the lowest common denominator? Federal agents said he fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book. He bought drugs from an undercover agent. (Not to be confused with being a client of the oldest profession in the books which also apparently played a major role in his arrest.)
Judge Camp appeared Monday in a federal court in Atlanta. He posted $50,000 bond and was accordingly released. As a result of Camp's arrest, the district's federal judges all recused themselves. Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody of Alabama was brought in to hear the case. Federal prosecutors from Washington will handle the government's case. Camp has retained four defense attorneys. Putting aside the procedural issues and anticipated legal wrangling, a lingering question is whether it was an affair or whether it was strictly business. According to the charges, it is alleged that Judge Camp had been paying the stripper for sex since the past spring. It is also alleged that Judge Camp was fronting the woman money to buy drugs. Why?
The 67 year-old Camp's background is not helpful in determining a motive. (The former chief judge for the northern district of Georgia was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Camp took senior status in 2008. Camp has handled many high profile cases. In 2004, he sentenced two men convicted of killing DeKalb County Sheriff Derwin Brown to life in prison without parole. He has presided over litigation concerning Georgia's request that new voters to prove their identities and citizenship before voting. In May 2009, Camp sentenced the personal doctor of a professional wrestler who killed himself, his wife and their 7-year-old son concerning prescription related charges.) So what might motivate Camp to buy drugs for a stripper?
Keeping in mind these are only allegations against the judge, one must dig deeper for a possible motive and or a defense. Camp is ably represented by lead attorney Bill Morrison and one can only presume he knows his case better than us. But the Judge's actions appear to go beyond an abuse of his position. Clearly, he got into trouble when he committed the inconsiderate offense of cheating on his spouse. After all, Judge Camp is a married man. While perhaps immoral, that was not a crime. Perhaps after the fact he considered the effect of his behavior on his family.Was he trying to protect his family from the publicity his conduct would generate? So far his spouse has remained silent but Camps lawyers claim she is supporting him.
What of the other woman? While the dancer's name does not appear in court papers, she has not been at a loss for words. She had a prior federal felony conviction on her record so her identity is not all that secret. Since she is cooperating with the FBI, they might not like the public knowing her identity. And for the sentimental romantics who think this is a remake of Pretty Woman, think again before you blame the FBI for turning the Judge's alleged lover against him. Little miss professional was apparently recording the judge even before she officially became an informant. If true, a juror might question what she originally had in mind with regard to the recordings. Would the judge have paid money or even bought drugs for this woman in order to avoid the tapes from becoming public?
The woman allegedly has been promised immunity from prosecution. That in and of itself does not make her bias. But the early recordings might make a juror scratch her head wondering whether this weak pitiful excuse for a man was "set up." When Camp bought drugs from an undercover agent, he was allegedly in possession of two pistols because he was in fear of the participants in the transaction. Apparently three transactions took place where Camp was apparently armed. The deal apparently went down in the parking lot of a suburban Atlanta nightclub, an appropriate place for terminating not only a judiciary career but perhaps also a marriage.
Update 12-3-10: Judge Jack Camp pled guilty last month to buying drugs for a stripper. U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yate's office is investigating whether any of the cases Judge Camp handled were influenced by the use of drugs or racial bias. Any defendant may request resentencing in any case handled by Judge Camp from May of 2010 to the present.
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13 comments:
I never thought of this angle? You must be a defense attorney.
Black mailed into committing the offense? Might mitigate the circumstances a bit.
Simply disgusting
I don't think JACK about any defense of Jack.
(Little miss professional was apparently recording the judge even before she officially became an informant. If true, a juror might question what she originally had in mind with regard to the recordings. Would the judge have paid money or even bought drugs for this woman in order to avoid the tapes from becoming public?)
This should not even be considered as a factor since we all know two wrongs don’t make a right…and even a Judge should be held accountable to the same standards we are expected to obey.
They talk about the moral degradation of our society and it is hypocrites like this that spark such feelings. People are not stupid, their aware that cops drive drunk and get away with it with the flash of their badge, they know of the corruption and backroom deals in our courtrooms to enhance careers, where truth and innocence are over ruled for a conviction record…And they say, “If they can do it why can’t I” ???
Even if this guy is guilty he will receive a slap on the hand where the rest of us probably would have had to do some prison time…as they take care of their own.
Probably because he has evidence of others in his position guilty of much worse.
I can just hear this guy chastising an ordinary citizen about morality for a similar crime as he sentences them…
...time to drag out the Guillotine.
Men, men, men . . . and now Brett Favre ... say it ain't so Brett!
Hard to believe that Bret Farve would need to resort to "sexting."
Here is a recent article on Judicial corruption:
http://www.truth-out.org/false-arrests-gratuitous-police-violence-false-testimony-wrack-us-justice-system64095
QUOTE:
"Surprisingly, some judges encourage and facilitate the malicious practice of false arrests.
Danita Mitchell, a single parent, fled North Carolina this past summer after judges in Charlotte falsely jailed her multiple times during the past two years on questionable charges arising from a child support payment dispute with her ex-husband.
In June, Mitchell says a Superior Court judge in Charlotte jailed her for fourteen days after holding her in contempt when she challenged the truthfulness of a Sheriff’s Office employee during cross-examination.
At that trial, Mitchell had represented herself because that judge declined to provide the indigent woman with a court-appointed attorney. That Sheriff’s employee initiated charges against Mitchell claiming, according to an official report, that Mitchell starred at her “like she wanted to kill me” weeks after that employee was disciplined for failing to properly process legal paperwork paid for by Mitchell.
“I have a legal right to confront my accuser but I get sent to jail. This is wrong,” Mitchell said in an interview with TCBH.
“In March, a judge sent me to jail for 48-hours for not swearing on the Bible. Judges put me in jail for seventy days last fall because I objected to unlawful abuses,” said Mitchell, who has filed formal complaints against three Charlotte judges, including the jurist during that June trial."
Hey Yono, this is not the Brett Favre post...LOL
LOL Video Guy: Right you are ... just still upset because I love Brett Favre! :)
Who doesn't like Farve?
This gives judges a bad name.
Update 12-3-10: Judge Jack Camp pled guilty last month to buying drugs for a stripper. U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yate's office is investigating whether any of the cases Judge Camp handled were influenced by the use of drugs or racial bias. Any defendant may request resentencing in any case handled by Judge Camp from May of 2010 to the present.
thinking with the "wrong head" indeed.
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