The Masturbating Judge – Part 1
Update #14:
On January 26, 2006 Donald Thompson appeared once again in Creek County District Court. He entered a not guilty plea to all charges. According to the court clerk’s office a trial date for Thompson won’t be set until May.
Update #15:
On April 26, 2006 both sides appeared in the Creek County District Court in Bristow for a motion hearing. Defense attorney Clark Brewster filed a motion seeking dismissal of one of the indecent exposure charges. Comanche County District Judge C. Allen McCall, the latest of several judges who were appointed to hear the case, denied the defense motion. Judge McCall ruled that the state had met its burden in the preliminary hearing and all charges against Thompson would go to trial.
Patricia High, assistant district attorney in Oklahoma County who had taken over prosecution of the case against Thompson clashed with defense attorney Brewster when she told Judge McCall she had yet to see reports of the expected testimony of expert witnesses listed by the defense. Brewster said he did not have to provide reports from specialists. He said thus far these experts have not produced any reports.
The two attorneys clashed again over defense allegations that one of the star witnesses against Thompson, Lisa Foster, was a long time marijuana user. McCall had ruled at an earlier hearing the subject of Foster being a user of marijuana would not be allowed during the trial. At at previous hearing both McCall and High asked Brewster to provide the names of witnesses who would testify to Foster’s use of marijuana. Brewster finally admitted he did not have any witnesses. McCall said he did not want to hear any more about the subject and told the attorney he would not permit the testimony of any experts on the cause and effects of marijuana use.
Judge McCall set a June 12th trial date for Thompson.
Update #16:
On June 7th, yet another motion hearing was held in Creek County District Court in Bristow. Thompson’s attorney Clark Brewster argued that the evidence and witnesses involved in the prosecution of misuse of a state computer could cause the jury to prejudge the defendant on the indecent exposure counts and therefore a separate trial should be held on the misdemeanor count.
Brewster called the misdemeanor count ‘character assassination’ owing to the nature of the alleged offense which involves an allegation that photos stored on the former judge’s computer show a man’s penis and a woman giving oral sex to a man. Prosecutors claim the woman is Angela McClanahan, a former business associate of Thompson, and that the penis is that of Thompson. E-mail exchanges between the two found on Thompson’s computer indicate the pair sometimes planned sexual encounters during lunch breaks.
Special prosecutor High said the photos and related misdemeanor charge are pertinent to the other charges since the defense has advanced a theory that the judge suffers erectile dysfunction and could not have been masturbating in court. High contends that if Thompson actually suffers from erectile dysfunction, it would make sense for him to use the penis pump during morning court sessions “so you can be ready for what you’re going to do over the lunch hour.”
Judge McCall overruled Brewster’s request to try the misdemeanor charge separately.
Another Thompson defense attorney, Rob Nigh, who was a member of the Timothy McVeigh defense team, challenged the prosecution’s plan to introduce a penis pump seized from Thompson’s chambers as evidence, saying state experts destroyed it during DNA testing.
Nigh claims that the fact the penis pump was cut in half prevents defense experts from using it to show other possible causes for the pumping sounds that state witnesses will say they heard coming from behind Judge Thompson’s bench. High said the device still makes a noise even after being cut in half.
Apparently Judge McCall withheld until trial a ruling on Nigh’s request that the prosecution not be allowed to introduce the penis pump into evidence. The prosecution alleges that DNA testing links Thompson’s to the penis pump.
Trial on the four felony indecent exposure counts and the one misdemeanor count alleging the misuse of a state computer is set to begin on June 12th, with the morning to be spent conducting a ‘hardship hearing’ for those called to jury duty and who claim serving would create a hardship for them. Jury selection is set for the afternoon of June 12th.
[...] Part 1 – The basic allegations and charges against Donald D. Thompson. [...]