By Emanuella Grinberg Court TV
The indecent exposure trial for a retired Oklahoma judge was postponed Monday morning after a judge who previously was disqualified from the case participated in jury selection. Comanche County District Judge Allen McCall decided to delay the trial until Nov. 7 as a pool of 82 potential jurors assembled in Creek County District Court for empanelment in the felony case of former judge Donald Thompson. The defendant is charged with three counts of indecent exposure for using a penis pump and masturbating on the bench as he presided over two murder trials and one civil trial in 2003. He faces up to 10 years on each count stemming from the allegations of a court reporter, jurors and a trial witness who claim to have seen or heard Thompson using a penis pump followed by observations of motions resembling masturbation in open court.
McCall, who was brought in from Lawton, Okla., to preside over the case, granted a defense motion to quash the potential panel, which was whittled down from a pool of 300 Friday afternoon by Creek County District Judge Joe Sam Vassar. Vassar recused himself from the case in January 2005, citing personal interest for having worked alongside the defendant in the same district for a number of years. Nonetheless, Vassar was called in Friday to participate in the prequalification of jurors when McCall was unable to participate. "The biggest problem was the fact that he, as a disqualified judge who recused himself due to conflicts of interest, participated in the trial," the defendant's lawyer, Clark Brewster, told Courttv.com. "He can't be the judge that decides discretionary matters in the case." The ruling is the latest in a case that has been plagued with conflicts of interest because of the defendant's ties to the court. After Creek County District Attorney Max Cook recused his office from the case, Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Pattye High and Richard Smothermon, district attorney for Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties, were brought in. In recusing himself, Cook signed an affidavit in support of Thompson, indicating he had never witnessed any inappropriate behavior by the judge. "He has at all times conducted himself with professionalism and integrity," Cook wrote. Brewster said several similar affidavits were provided by members of Cook's office, local attorneys and law enforcement and said he planned to call them as defense witnesses. "It will be a veritable who's who list of persons of influence in Creek County," Brewster said. The trial venue was also moved away from the Sapulpa County courthouse where Thompson presided and where the alleged incidents took place to the Creek County's courthouse in Bristow. |