By Emanuella Grinberg Court TV
For the second time in less than a year, a retired Oklahoma judge was ordered to stand trial on allegations that he exposed himself on the bench during trials. A court reporter for former Creek County District Judge Donald Thompson testified in a brief preliminary hearing Tuesday that she witnessed her former boss masturbating with a device known as a penis pump while he presided over several trials from 2001 to 2003. Thompson, 59, is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 26 on four counts of indecent exposure and one count of misuse of a state computer for allegedly keeping explicit photos of himself on his office computer. The disgraced jurist faces up to 41 years in prison on the five counts.
Court reporter Lisa Foster, the only witness in the hearing, also testified that she saw Thompson shave his pubic area during closing arguments in a high-profile murder case, but did not report him to police for fear of professional repercussions. "I didn't want to lose my job," Foster said, according to the Associated Press. "I didn't want to do something that would hurt him and his family." In January 2005, Oklahoma prosecutors charged Thompson with three counts of indecent exposure stemming from similar claims from Thompson's clerk, a trial witness and several jurors. Panelists from two criminal trials and one civil trial told police they heard whooshing noises from the bench, which they likened to the sound of "a hemorrhoid donut" or a blood-pressure cuff. In November, after a series of delays due to conflicts of interests within the case, a team of special prosecutors filed a new count of indecent exposure and one count of misuse of a state computer against Thompson. The fifth count refers to allegations that the judge kept photographs of himself and a female engaging in "lewd and lascivious acts" on a computer in his chambers. The second amended complaint also expanded the dates of the alleged incidents. Thompson resigned from his 20-year post in August 2004 following an investigation into his alleged misconduct, a move which has allowed him to continue collecting on his pension. If he is convicted of the felony counts, his reported $88,000 pension will be revoked. Judge James Bland will set a trial date at Thompson's arraignment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |