The Case of the Masturbating Judge - Page 3
Immediately following the initial report, local news media jumped on the story and several reports appeared in short order. The following is but a brief summary of a few such reports:
On 6/25/04, the Tulsa World in a report titled "AG aims to oust judge" quoted Clark Brewster, Judge Thompson's attorney, as stating:
"The whole genesis for the allegations involves a
well-known courthouse joke. About the time he turned 50, he was
given a gag gift by a hunting buddy, a penis pump, in poor taste.
It sat in the courthouse the past several years and was in
various places. Many of the lawyers and court personnel were
aware of it. It became the source of a lot of joking around and
humor. The individuals that we believe are behind this attempt to
embarrass the judge took that opportunity to blow it into a much
more sinister set of allegations."
Brewster also went on to state that the judge is horrified that
the allegations have been brought against him.
Also on 6/25/04, the Daily Oklahoman in a report titled "Trial participants weigh in on judge" reported the comments of participants in the August, 2003 trial in which it is alleged Judge Thompson used the penis pump.
Jury foreman Helen Orcutt, told the newspaper that judge was "masturbating, plain and simple." As jury foreman Orcutt was seated closest to the judge's bench. She was quoted in the referenced report as stating:
"You could see his robe moving back and forth. It was drawing our attention away from what we were supposed to be doing. We all had the same conclusion - he was pumping himself up. You could tell by the gestures."On 6/27/04, the Tulsa World in a report titled, "Women: Judge changed" contained statements by Dianna Strickland, Lisa Foster and Zelma Hindman in which the women discussed events, their jobs and their fears and frustrations. The women were united in the view that Judge Thompson's behavior took a disturbing turn about four years earlier.
The referenced report quoted Dianna Strickland who had worked for Thompson since 1983 as saying:
"He's not the same person that he once was.""People say he's just kinky, but it's gone way past that."
"After the investigation started, there were times when he stopped coming to work.
He wouldn't come to the courthouse. We couldn't find him. Nobody could find him.
Our office had boxes of his unopened mail and piles of pleadings that attorneys were leaving to be signed.
It just got bizarre."
Lisa Foster, speaking of the penis pump said that at first the judge only used the device when someone was testifying. The report went on to quote Foster as saying:
then he got careless and continued to use it during silent moments in the court proceedings. I knew other people were hearing it. He was so into it, his shoulder would move to the sound of the pump.In the report all three women expressed fear of being fired as the reason they did not bring Judge Thompson's alleged behavior to the attention of authorities.
Strickland revealed that she had herself transferred from Judge Thompson's courtroom in 2002 after deciding the working relationship had become too uncomfortable because he had allegedly made a vulgar sexual proposition to her.
Both Lisa Foster and Zelma Hindman were fired by Judge Thompson on the same day. The day after Foster testified before the Council on Judicial Complaints.
Less than a week after the Attorney General filed the petition for Judge Thompson's removal from the bench the judge was cited for speeding and driving on a suspended driver's license by the Glenpool, OK police department. News media reports indicated the judge's license had been suspended since April of 2004.
In a Tulsa World report date 7/09/2004 and titled, "Porn use by judge alleged" it was revealed that at least nine sexually explicit pictures and a suggestive e-mail were found on the state owned computer assigned to Judge Thompson.
The referenced report indicated that the computer had been examined by the Administrative Office of the Courts and that a request for the examination had been made by The Associated Press.
The Tulsa World report quoted Judge Thompson's attorney Clark Brewster as saying:
"I know for a fact a terminated employee's computer was copied and transferred to the judge's computer so he would have certain forms. This occurred just before his computer was examined.""It may well have been something captured on his computer by virtue of research or a court exhibit."
The referenced report also revealed that during the examination of the judge's computer an e-mail was recovered which appears to indicate that the judge was conducting personal business involving rental property on the state computer and that the e-mail also contained a reference to oral sex.
The report went on to quote Zelma Hindman as saying that the judge had pornography on his state computer and that at one time she had seen an icon of a naked woman on the computer's screen. The report indicated that at some point in time Judge Thompson's computer was experiencing problems requiring repair. The article went on to quote Hindman as saying:
"Some techs came from Oklahoma City to work on them and discovered that (the judge) had been looking at porn on it."
