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The Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline in Rhode Island is not happy with District Court Judge Rafael A. Ovalles. They just finished an investigation into the judge’s behavior, and they found his behavior violated the standard of judicial ethics. That’s no bueno.
So what did Judge Ovalles allegedly do? The full report is a treasure trove of weird and disturbing behavior — listen, when you read the allegation that the good judge asked a pregnant attorney before him if she’d eaten too much over the holidays or was pregnant and it doesn’t crack the top 10 terrible things he is accused of, you know you’re in for a doozy.
The Providence Journal reports that Ovalles has some… control issues, and he tends to take them out on women:
The commission documents Ovalles abusing a female public defender by berating her in open court, interfering with her job by creating rules exclusive to her, and confining her to her seat. It found that he publicly mistreated a deputy court clerk, including throwing a file at her in court.
Of course he also reportedly falls asleep in court, and is allegedly dishonest and tried to interfere with the Commission’s investigation — so we are dealing with a real winner. Allegedly.
And I’ve been saving the best — or at least the most disgusting — for last:
The allegations include that the clerk delivered a file to the judge’s chambers on two occasions only to find Ovalles sitting in his chair with his pants unbuttoned, his zipper down and his hand inside his underwear. The commission’s report details an incident in which Ovalles let a female attorney get in front of him in line for a wake and then commented that he was enjoying the view from behind. Ovalles, it says, inappropriately asked the clerk if his shoes made him look sexy and told her she could come in and watch him “suck his lollipop.” She once knocked on his door and found him getting dressed. Another female clerk reported finding Ovalles sitting behind his desk with his pants hanging up behind him in clear view. Sheriffs and male clerks were often recruited to accompany female clerks into his chambers.
– Judge Bill Weisenberger, in an alleged statement made to Eric Rivers, a mentally disabled black man, after allegedly striking Rivers in the head on May 8, 2014, at the Canton Flea Market in Mississippi. Weisenberger was released on a $10,000 bond, and faces up to five years in jail if convicted of the felony charge of simple assault on a vulnerable person.
Law students who get to intern with judges are pretty lucky. If they play their cards right, they’ll be able to get a lasting relationship out of it — just think of all the tips, tricks, and recommendations that judge will be able to give you in your life as a lawyer.
Some law students who intern with judges reportedly forge “other” kinds of relationships with their would-be mentors. Those alleged relationships come with all sorts of perks, but if you get caught, the gavel may come down hard.
Take, for example, the case of Michigan Judge J. Cedric Simpson. Simpson is accused of having a “personal” relationship with Crystal Marie Vargas, a graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School who once served as his intern. Simpson is now facing a complaint from the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission over his alleged actions while Vargas worked for him in chambers, including an incident where, according to the complaint, the judge attempted to interfere with the investigation and prosecution of Vargas’s September 2013 drunk driving charge.
Let’s take a peek at what allegedly went down between Simpson and Vargas…
Simpson is a 14-A District Court judge in Michigan, and we presume Vargas is a recent graduate of Cooley Law. Her LinkedIn profile seems to have been deleted, but here’s a snippet from it that we were able to find:
It seems that on the early morning of September 8, 2013, Vargas was driving drunk and crashed her car into a tow truck at about 4:30 a.m. The first person she called to tell about the accident was not a relative, not a law school classmate, not a boyfriend, not the police, but Simpson, who allegedly showed up at the scene less than 10 minutes later. Here’s what happened next, according to MLive.com’s report:
[Simpson] interfered with a field sobriety test being administered by Pittsfield Township Police Officer Robert Cole. In his initial response to the commission’s request for comments, Simpson denied speaking with Vargas while Cole administered the sobriety test to her.
Vargas was released from Washtenaw County jail at approximately 8 a.m. and allegedly went to Simpson’s home. Simpson then allegedly drove Vargas to recover her vehicle and paid the towing fees on his own credit card after her card was declined.
The second count alleged by the commission is that Simpson interfered with Vargas’ prosecution following the incident. He allegedly contacted Pittsfield Township city attorney Victor Lillich on multiple occasions in an attempt to intercede on Vargas’ behalf.
Despite Simpson’s best efforts to help this “good girl,” Vargas was charged with one count of operating a motor vehicle while impaired. She pleaded guilty, and was sentenced on January 21, 2014.
Simpson, of course, denies interfering with the police investigation or trying to get “special treatment” for his intern. Simpson also denies that he had a “personal” relationship with Vargas, but this excerpt from the Judicial Tenure Commission’s complaint seems to stand in contradiction to the judge’s assertions:
Simpson’s lawyer, Ken Mogill, had this to say about the complaint, per the Detroit Free Press: “We respectfully disagree with the JTC’s allegations, and I expect Judge Simpson will be exonerated.”
Best of luck to Judge J. Cedric Simpson as he tries to fight these ethical charges and keep his job, and best of luck to Crystal Vargas on the Texas bar exam. They’ll both need all the help they can get. (Flip to the next page to see the juicy complaint filed against Judge Simpson.)
Three Judges From Same Court Busted For DWI By Joe Patrice
One is an outlier. A sad reminder of the legal profession’s struggle with alcoholism. Two is a curiosity. Perhaps a coincidence? But when three judges, all from the same court, get charged with DWI over the course of a mere six months, you’re looking at a trend.
Just this morning, the third judge in this trend was handcuffed and led away from the scene of an accident. In this case, the courtroom parking lot. That’s right, she’s accused of running over the gate to the lot and then ramming a parked sheriff’s car.
At 8:00 a.m.
There must have been an awesome special on mimosas at the local IHOP knockoff….
Apparently the Broward County Courthouse is the place to be if you want to get riggety riggety wrecked, son! This morning was Judge Lynn Rosenthal’s turn to see how the other half of her criminal courtroom lives when she gets booked at the Broward Main Jail. There are scant details of the accident so far, but everyone agrees that a sheriff’s vehicle was hit, and they’re blaming Judge Rosenthal, a Governor Scott appointee facing an electoral challenge this year from the happiest person in Florida today.
But what makes this story interesting is the fact that Broward County judges can’t seem to get away from defending themselves against drunk driving charges. The Broward County bar must be excellent… and I’m sure they have some good lawyers too.
The trend kicked off back in November when Judge Cynthia Imperato was pinched for drunk driving after a fellow motorist called 911:
“He’s all over the road,” said a caller who phoned 911 at 9:49 p.m. Tuesday to report seeing an erratic white Mercedes-Benz turn onto Northeast Second Street from Federal Highway.
“He nearly sideswiped me twice. He’s gotta be drunk,” the caller, who said he wasn’t sure if the driver was male or female, said. “He’s really dangerous.”
It was nearly an hour later and less than three miles away when police witnessed the erratically driven white Mercedes-Benz for themselves, a police report said.
Imperato, a judge since 2003, refused to take a breath test after she was pulled over shortly before 11 p.m. in the 2400 block of West Palmetto Park Road, the report said.
She was in the driver’s seat with her window rolled down and was attempting to use her cellphone when Officer Robert Jesionek approached, the report said.
When he asked Imperato if she knew why he stopped her, Imperato said “she was weaving,” the report said.
“I could smell a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath. Her eyes were red and glassy. Her speech was slow and slurred. Her face was red and flush,” Jesionek wrote.
Jesionek set up his in-car camera and asked Imperato to get out of her car, but she refused and said she was calling her attorney, the report said. Jesionek observed that she “was having problems dialing any numbers.”
The video of the incident was eventually released, and despite the characterization of the commentators that she was “uncooperative,” she sounds like she just wants to talk to her lawyer and refuses to comply with the police’s standard operating BS of asking directed questions hoping a suspect will “voluntarily” do something they aren’t prepared to order her to do. She’s not only a judge but a former prosecutor and a former cop, so I think she knew exactly what she was doing.
At the time, Chief Judge Peter Weinstein said he had “no specific protocol in place dictating how to handle a judge in this situation.” He may want to invest some time in developing one. Starting with a designated driver program.
Judge Gisele Pollack was arrested on May 1 after a car crash. In that accident, another driver was injured, prompting Pollack to be charged with four counts of DUI and failure to use due care. Just days ago, the Supreme Court of Florida suspended Pollack for allegedly violating the code of judicial conduct. She certainly sounds like she was drinking on the job based on audio tapes that caught her making slurred and somewhat off-kilter comments in open court:
One is an outlier. A sad reminder of the legal profession’s struggle with alcoholism. Two is a curiosity. Perhaps a coincidence? But when three judges, all from the same court, get charged with DWI over the course of a mere six months, you’re looking at a trend.
Just this morning, the third judge in this trend was handcuffed and led away from the scene of an accident. In this case, the courtroom parking lot. That’s right, she’s accused of running over the gate to the lot and then ramming a parked sheriff’s car.
At 8:00 a.m.
There must have been an awesome special on mimosas at the local IHOP knockoff….
Apparently the Broward County Courthouse is the place to be if you want to get riggety riggety wrecked, son! This morning was Judge Lynn Rosenthal’s turn to see how the other half of her criminal courtroom lives when she gets booked at the Broward Main Jail. There are scant details of the accident so far, but everyone agrees that a sheriff’s vehicle was hit, and they’re blaming Judge Rosenthal, a Governor Scott appointee facing an electoral challenge this year from the happiest person in Florida today.
But what makes this story interesting is the fact that Broward County judges can’t seem to get away from defending themselves against drunk driving charges. The Broward County bar must be excellent… and I’m sure they have some good lawyers too.
The trend kicked off back in November when Judge Cynthia Imperato was pinched for drunk driving after a fellow motorist called 911:
“He’s all over the road,” said a caller who phoned 911 at 9:49 p.m. Tuesday to report seeing an erratic white Mercedes-Benz turn onto Northeast Second Street from Federal Highway.
“He nearly sideswiped me twice. He’s gotta be drunk,” the caller, who said he wasn’t sure if the driver was male or female, said. “He’s really dangerous.”
It was nearly an hour later and less than three miles away when police witnessed the erratically driven white Mercedes-Benz for themselves, a police report said.
Imperato, a judge since 2003, refused to take a breath test after she was pulled over shortly before 11 p.m. in the 2400 block of West Palmetto Park Road, the report said.
She was in the driver’s seat with her window rolled down and was attempting to use her cellphone when Officer Robert Jesionek approached, the report said.
When he asked Imperato if she knew why he stopped her, Imperato said “she was weaving,” the report said.
“I could smell a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath. Her eyes were red and glassy. Her speech was slow and slurred. Her face was red and flush,” Jesionek wrote.
Jesionek set up his in-car camera and asked Imperato to get out of her car, but she refused and said she was calling her attorney, the report said. Jesionek observed that she “was having problems dialing any numbers.”
The video of the incident was eventually released, and despite the characterization of the commentators that she was “uncooperative,” she sounds like she just wants to talk to her lawyer and refuses to comply with the police’s standard operating BS of asking directed questions hoping a suspect will “voluntarily” do something they aren’t prepared to order her to do. She’s not only a judge but a former prosecutor and a former cop, so I think she knew exactly what she was doing.
At the time, Chief Judge Peter Weinstein said he had “no specific protocol in place dictating how to handle a judge in this situation.” He may want to invest some time in developing one. Starting with a designated driver program.
Judge Gisele Pollack was arrested on May 1 after a car crash. In that accident, another driver was injured, prompting Pollack to be charged with four counts of DUI and failure to use due care. Just days ago, the Supreme Court of Florida suspended Pollack for allegedly violating the code of judicial conduct. She certainly sounds like she was drinking on the job based on audio tapes that caught her making slurred and somewhat off-kilter comments in open court:
Judge John C. Murphy of Brevard County, Florida was feeling a bit like Judge Dredd yesterday morning. Video captured him verbally sparring with an experienced assistant public defender, Andrew Weinstock, before requesting Weinstock visit him in his “Chambers of Doom” (a.k.a. the hallway) for some actual sparring.
Looks like we need to come up with a new term beyond “benchslap.”
Cue Michael Buffer: “Let’s get ready to RUMMMMMBLLLLLLE!”
The impetus for the fight was Weinstock’s refusal to waive his client’s right to a speedy trial. It would seem Judge Murphy acted quickly in compliance with Weinstock’s request and docketed a trial by combat.
If you’re not able to watch the video right now: (1) remember to watch later, because it’s fun, and (2) here’s a recap of the highlights, from Florida Today:
“You want to set it for docket sounding, set it for docket sounding. I’m not waiving in any case. This is an emergency created by the state,” the attorney says.
Murphy responds: “You know if I had a rock I would throw it at you right now. Stop pissing me off. Just sit down. I’ll take care of it. I don’t need your help. Sit down.”
“You know what? I’m the public defender I have a right to be here and I have a right to stand and represent my clients.”
“I said sit down. If you want to fight let’s go out back and I’ll just beat your ass.”
Sounds like someone’s got a case of the Mondays. At that point they go outside and you hear a fight and the judge yelling, “I’m not kidding. You wanna f**k with me? Do you?” When the judge returned:
After the confrontation, Murphy went back into court and finished ruling over first appearances.
“I will catch my breath eventually,” Murphy said. “Man, I’m an old man.”
The courtroom applauded. Either they sided with the judge or they were terrified they’d be next.
In the past I’ve stood up for a judge pushed to anger by disrespectful lawyers. But unlike the former instance, Weinstock exhibited no intentional disrespect like cutting off the judge or throwing passive-aggressive insults solely designed to frustrate the judge into an outburst to set up a BS recusal motion. He was just asking the judge to schedule a trial, which, theoretically, is the judge’s job. And the former judge also didn’t threaten or perform physical violence, which is a pretty significant difference.
Based on where the video picks up, Weinstock seems entirely reasonable. Though to play Devil’s Advocate, Weinstock does eagerly say “let’s go right now” and storm out of the courtroom after the judge says, “if you want to fight let’s go out back and I’ll just beat your ass,” so Weinstock had to have some idea what was going on and acted ready to throw down. Not that it excuses the judge’s behavior, but perhaps we’ve not seen the whole story.
[Public Defender Blaise] Trettis said he met with Weinstock, but he had not seen the courtroom video when he spoke with FLORIDA TODAY Monday evening. He said to his knowledge, criminal charges won’t be pursued.
“I hope it’s not a reflection on Judge Murphy’s really outstanding legal career,” Trettis said, adding, “If it’s true, you know, I think it’s really an uncharacteristic, isolated incident.”
Editor's note: If the Probate Court of Cook County is any example of lack of ethics, Illinois would have to be "FFFFF". Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Would you believe a state supreme court justice received a $50,000 trip to Italy from a lawyer who routinely appears before the court representing major clients?
Oh, it happened. And it could be happening a lot more often than you’d think because most states make it exceedingly difficult to discover. Every now and again someone will do important work pointing out that electing judges in an era of unfettered campaign contributions poses a significant risk to judicial integrity, and everyone will cluck their tongues, stroke their beards and wonder, “What’s to be done with this state court system?” A new study goes further and looks at the financial wheelings and dealings — and the lack of oversight they receive — of judges outside of election season.
How does your state court system fare?
Spoiler alert: Badly…
In general, state court systems receive far less scrutiny than they deserve. For a system that exerts much more direct influence over the day-to-day lives of Americans, state courts don’t get the fanfare of the federal system. Indeed, state courts don’t often grace the media (including this publication) unless it’s election time or they do something epically stupid. And it turns out state legislatures are just as uninterested in the goings-on in their state judiciaries as everyone else.
The Center for Public Integrity took the initiative to find out what’s going on in the various state court systems in its new report.
The Center scoured the state systems for financial disclosures, finding them difficult to obtain, inadequate, or completely absent. That’s right, in Montana, Utah, and Idaho, judges are on the damn honor system when it comes to accepting gifts and then doling out rulings.
After seeking input from leading judicial ethics experts, the Center created a grading system based on a slightly tougher version of disclosure requirements for federal judges. Federal disclosures scored an 84 out of 100 possible points for a letter grade of B. (See full methodology.) Federal disclosures fell short because they are not available online and judges can report the value of investments in broad ranges rather than exact amounts.
Not one state equaled or bettered the federal system’s score. The two highest-scoring states — California and Maryland — got Cs. Six other states earned a D, while the rest failed.
It’s hard to catch impropriety when you’ve got your head in the sand. However, even with lax reporting requirements holding sway over much of the land, the Center was still able to find some wild gifts. Like the aforementioned $50,000 trip to Italy:
In 2012, Arkansas Justice Courtney Goodson accepted a $50,000 trip to Italy from Arkansas attorney W.H. Taylor, according to Goodson’s financial disclosure. The year before, Taylor paid for Goodson’s $12,000 “Caribbean Cruise.”
Goodson’s trip to Italy was by far the most expensive gift reported by supreme court justices in 2012. But she wasn’t the only judge to accept something of value.
A good lawyer knows the law; a great lawyer knows the judge, I guess. The lawyer in question, W.H. Taylor, seems to be good friends with the justice and her husband. He’d have to be for that kind of outlay. Even though this gift is extreme, Justice Goodson has her ethics in the right place:
In Goodson’s case, the two trips she received from the Arkansas attorney were allowed under the state’s rules. However, they raised eyebrows after media reports earlier this year revealed that Taylor’s clients include John Tyson, the chairman of Tyson Foods, Inc., a food-processing giant based in Arkansas. Taylor and John Goodson, the justice’s husband, have collaborated on several lawsuits.
In an emailed statement to the Center, court spokeswoman Stephanie Harris wrote that Goodson will recuse herself from cases involving Taylor, who is also the judge’s personal attorney. “And out of an abundance of caution,” Harris’ email said, “she will continue to recuse in cases involving Tyson.”
The Arkansas legal community can’t be too big, and it’s natural for high-profile practitioners to know each other — but even with diligent recusals, it certainly doesn’t look good when one justice has to constantly recuse herself from cases involving one of the state’s largest enterprises because she gets pricey vacations paid for by lawyers.
Over in North Carolina, the justices aren’t nearly as conscientious as Justice Goodson:
North Carolina Justice Robert Edmunds is one of many judges who reported family ownership of shares in dozens of companies.
The Center found that he ruled in favor of two companies in which he owned stock — Abbott Laboratories and Wells Fargo & Co.
In an interview, Edmunds told the Center that it was not a conflict of interest for him to preside in those cases.
“Our ethical rules allow participation if the ownership is de minimis,” he said, using the Latin term to describe a trivial amount. “It was so minuscule. … It effectively means whatever decision I make will not have any impact on my financial situation.”
North Carolina’s forms only require that investments worth at least $10,000 be reported, but do not ask for an exact amount.
He declined to provide the value of his holdings in those companies.
De minimis is a tricky word, but holding over $10,000 in one company should exceed it. North Carolina Supreme Court justices make around $140,000 by my reckoning. Obviously, most judges — for better or worse — are coming off lucrative private practice careers, and $10,000 may not matter much to their net worth. Hell, their $140,000 salary may not matter much to their net worth. But that’s not really the point. Take it away, professor:
[Stephen] Gillers, the NYU professor, said judges often tell him they feel that people wrongly assume that a gift or an investment means they can be corrupted.
“I say, it’s not about you, and it’s not about your incorruptibility. It’s about the public’s confidence in unbiased decision-making,” he said. “You can have a just opinion, but if people think it’s unjust because of some undue influence, then the administration of justice has suffered.”
He may not look like much, but this little guy’s name is ‘John Holmes’ for a reason.
* A woman and her husband are charged with making dog porn, which is… well, it’s filming dogs having their way with the woman. So if you’re in North Carolina and get called for jury duty, that might be in your future. [Huffington Post Weird]
* Instead of a gun fight over getting cut off in traffic or someone dissing a sports team, this Russian guy opened fire with rubber bullets over an argument about Immanuel Kant. Much more cultured over there. [Critical-Theory]
* Gypsy family tries to pay bail with gold and the state judge cried foul, probably because he feared he was being… ugh. What followed was a thorough investigation of Romany culture. [New York Times]
* Judges in Chicago have to comply with a small sampling of the demeaning security procedures everyone else has had to deal with for the last 12 years and they deal with it graciously throw an absolute bitchfit. I mean, their complaints are sound, but still… [Chicago Sun-Times]
* Man held by authorities for peacefully protesting a photo enforced traffic light. Some things, like a guaranteed stream of city income, are too important to let free speech get in the way. [Autoblog]
* A judge has ordered a new trial for the cops convicted of the Danziger Bridge slayings in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Among the reasons, the prosecutors were writing disparaging comments about the defendants on online comments sections. As if anyone takes internet commenters seriously. [The Times-Picayune]
* Only a few more hours to register for this event featuring Kathy Ruemmler, counsel to President Obama, talking about women in law, leadership, and government. [Ms. JD]
A judge probably shouldn’t frequent astrip club. Forget all the arguments about the morality of strip clubs, or the need for judges to adhere to higher standards, or how the human brain can’t sustain that many playings of Girls Girls Girls by Mötley Crüe, the place is just crawling with people bound to show up in your courtroom for one reason or another.
But if a judge is going to frequent a strip club, it’s hard to top this judge’s style. He allegedly leveraged his legal know-how into sleeping with a dancer. Not bad. Better yet, instead of the clap he earned only a disciplinary complaint.
There’s no justice in the champagne room…
Judge Roman Montes, the chief judge of the Elizabeth Municipal Court and a judge in the Rahway Municipal Court in New Jersey (of course), got hit with a formal complaint last week for failing to conduct himself in a manner befitting his office. But if judges can’t go to strip clubs, how can they scout the new bailiff talent? Stereotypical club DJs make for awesome courtroom entrances.
More specifically, Judge Montes was hanging out at (now I’m going to link to this, but recognize that it’s the site of a gentlemen’s club, so don’t click on it unless you’re prepared for everyone around you to hear stripper music) Breathless[NSFW], which is technically a Go-Go bar rather than a strip club. So maybe it’s unfair to use the term “stripper” here, but I feel comfortable generalizing scantily clad exotic dancers into homo stripperum. According to Google Maps, this is what this joint looks like:
Some really classy ladies must hang out in there.
In any event, while hanging out at this ersatz Bada Bing, Judge Montes allegedly met a dancer who recognized him as the judge presiding over her domestic abuse case.
The dancer had filed charges against her boyfriend and appeared in front of Judge Montes a couple weeks earlier. At this point the judge allegedly got her number, because he’s a boss.
Now here’s where the judge is kind of getting a bad rap. Assuming everything in the complaint is accurate, after realizing that his dancer/soon-to-be-something-more was litigating in front of him, he dutifully told court personnel to transfer the case to another court because of his encounter at Breathless. That seems like EXACTLY what he should have done. The fact that court personnel are painfully slow at their jobs in Rahway is not the fault of Judge Montes. (Well, actually it may be, since a previous clerk of his sued him for sexual harassment, so maybe he’s not running the tightest ship over there.)
While the transfer was still pending, Judge Montes allegedly continued making it rain knowledge, talking to the dancer about the case itself since he was not going to be her judge any more. According to the complaint, she asked him to come back and see her at the club. He asked her to dinner. Way to raise the stakes.
After the case was finally transferred and resolved, Judge Montes is alleged to have told another judge that he transferred the case because he “commenced an intimate relationship with the dancer that was sexual in nature.”
The complaint lists three ethical violations:
19. By knowingly engaging in a personal relationship with a victim in a matter pending before Respondent and prior to the final disposition of that matter, Respondent violated Canons 1 and 2A of the Code of Judicial Conduct in that he did not personally observe high standards of conduct so that the integrity of the Judiciary is preserved and did not act in a way that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the Judiciary.
20. By engaging in extra-judicial activities with a victim of a legal matter pending before Respondent and prior to its final disposition in Clark, Respondent demeaned the judicial office in violation of Canon 5A(2) of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
I guess I’m on Judge Montes’s side here, because as he saw it, he engaged in a personal relationship with a victim in a matter NO LONGER pending before him. It’s kind of form over substance to say he should have held off for two weeks while the transfer went through.
And when we’re talking about strippers, it’s all about substance over superficiality.
As usual, the full complaint is available on the next page…
Ah, Memorial Day Weekend. The unofficial start of the summer. I’ll be spending it grilling out in my backyard and interviewing potential nannies (third time’s the charm).
If I knew either of these state judges, my holiday might also involve really good drugs. If you think about it, local judges should have great connects. And today, we’ve got two stories about judges who allegedly used those hook-ups to get access to loads of blow for themselves and friends.
Just stay safe. One judge’s friend (who was also a judge) ended up dead while lying on top of some cocaine…
Our first story comes from Missouri, where a St. Clair County judge (whose father is a wealthy personal injury attorney) could be charged with drug possession. That might be a light punishment. Another St. Clair County judge recently died of an apparent overdose. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Federal prosecutors were preparing at least one drug possession charge against the 20th Circuit’s drug court judge, Michael Cook, a source close to the investigation said.
The developments included fresh scrutiny on the death of one of the county’s associate judges, Joseph D. Christ, 49. His body was found March 10 in the Cook family’s hunting lodge near Pleasant Hill, Ill., in Pike County, about 65 miles northwest of St. Louis.
Cocaine was found under Christ’s body, and investigators believe he died of a drug overdose, with Cook in the building, the source said.
Initially, there was only sugar under Christ’s body, but things changed when the party ran low.
Cook wasn’t arrested in connection with Christ’s death. Instead, a St. Clair County probation department employee has been accused of supplying the yeyo. Could St. Clair County get its own season on The Wire?
Meanwhile, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, a county judge allegedly cut out the middle man altogether. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
In August 2011, Common Pleas Judge Paul Pozonsky, who had presided over a Washington County courtroom for more than a decade, made a peculiar request in what was otherwise a routine pretrial hearing: He wanted to see the drug evidence.
According to a grand jury presentment, Mr. Pozonsky went so far as calling a state trooper handling the case the next day, asking him to bring him the drugs that had been seized during the execution of a search warrant the previous year, a haul that totaled more than 200 grams of cocaine…
Less than a year later, when state police began investigating Mr. Pozonsky, they found that the bags — which themselves contained the plastic baggies the drugs were found in — had been tampered with. Evidence seals were broken on some them. Some of the baggies had been filled with sodium bicarbonate — baking soda — and contained Mr. Pozonsky’s DNA.
That’s bold. That’s Walter White destroying a laptop in a police evidence locker bold.
As people started to notice Pozonsky’s alleged scheme, the judge tried a master stroke:
According to the grand jury presentment, Washington City police Chief Robert Lemons sent a letter to Mr. Pozonsky in April of 2012, asking if he still had drug evidence in his possession from a 2-year-old case. On May 1 of last year, in a move that infuriated the district attorney’s office, Mr. Pozonsky unilaterally ordered the destruction of evidence in that case and 17 others. Most were drug-related. About half of the cases described in the presentment were listed in the destruction order.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, another judge goes and pulls a Weiner. In case you haven’t heard, Wade McCree, a state judge from Michigan, has been accused of sending nearly-nude photos to a bailiff via sext message. That’s right, we’ve got judicial divos posing for male pin-up shots right here in America (sorry to steal your Canadian thunder, Madam Justice Lori Douglas).
As they say on the internet, TTIWWOP — “This Thread Is Worthless Without Pictures.” Well, we’ve got one (safe for work, of course)….
Now, you’d think that a man wearing a bow tie would be conservative, but not Judge McCree. He’s sexy, and he knows it — no, seriously, he really is. Fox Detroit has the story:
A husband is upset after finding a photo of a nearly nude man on his wife’s cell phone. She says the photo came from her boss? What does she do for a living? She’s a court bailiff. Who’s her boss? Detroit 3rd Circuit Judge Wade McCree.
Needless to say, the bailiff’s husband was pissed — he filed a complaint with Michigan’s Judicial Tenure Commission. But he also did what any spouse would do if he were afraid of putting a beating on a man: he brought Judge McCree’s textual interpretation of his hot bod to the media’s attention.
Judge McCree, however, doesn’t really seem to give a damn. In an interview with Fox Detroit, the good judge had this to say of his “tastefully cropped,” semi-nude picture:
“Hot dog, yep that’s me. I’ve got no shame in my game. I ain’t talking to nobody else’s wife. You can almost get that here and now. I’ve sent that out to other women. There’s nothing nude about it. I’m in no more clothes than I’ll be at the Y this afternoon when I swim my mile.”
We’ve posted a photograph and a video clip of Judge McCree on the next page. Since many of you access this site at work, the picture has been redacted to remove any nudity — as redacted, it doesn’t show any body parts that you couldn’t see in a day at the beach, or in the pages of a Hollywood gossip magazine.
And now, for those of you who are willing, let’s move on to the photo of Judge McCree in nearly all his glory
One is an outlier. A sad reminder of the legal profession’s struggle with alcoholism. Two is a curiosity. Perhaps a coincidence? But when three judges, all from the same court, get charged with DWI over the course of a mere six months, you’re looking at a trend.
Judge 
Would you believe a state supreme court justice received a $50,000 trip to Italy from a lawyer who routinely appears before the court representing major clients?
