The Masturbating Judge – Part 2
It appears that the testimony regarding Thompson’s medical records and ailments is setting the stage for the state’s ‘star witness’, Thompson’s former court reporter, Lisa Foster who allegedly saw Thompson’s penis 12 to 15 times. Foster is expected to take the stand early next week.
J.D. Lindstrom, an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation forensics specialist, testified regarding stains found in Thompson’s office and chambers. Lindstrom said he found traces of “P30,” a protein found in semen, on one of Thompson’s judicial robes, on a small chair in his chambers and on a carpet, in the former judge’s chambers and that DNA tests matched them to Thompson.
Lindstrom testified that he also tested the pump and found “faint positive” results and that none of the stains that tested positive contained sperm. Thompson had a vasectomy in 1988.
Trial Day #8 – June 26:
Lisa Foster, the state’s star witness and long time court reporter for Donald D. Thompson took the witness stand today and testified to either seeing or hearing her boss of 15 years using a penis pump in at least seven trials between January, 2001 and 2003. Foster stated “I was really shocked and I was kind of scared because it was so bizarre.”
Lisa Foster testified that she saw Thompson’s penis encased in the plastic pump through a narrow gap between a desk drawer and door. She said she heard a “sh, sh” sound coming from the bench before she was able to identify the source of the sound.
Foster also testified that at first she saw the judge using the pump only when someone in the courtroom was talking. But she said he later used it brazenly, even during rape and murder trials. Foster testified that she recalled hearing the sound of the pump during the emotional testimony of a murdered toddler’s grandfather during a trial in 2002. Foster stated regarding the grandfather that was testifying, “He was getting real teary eyed, and the judge was up there pumping on that pump. It was sickening.”
Foster said she later took photos of a pump under the judge’s bench when he was not in the courtroom. She testified that she intended to show the photographs to her husband because “I didn’t want people to think I was crazy or lying about it.”
Foster also testified that co-workers encouraged her to report Thompson to a higher authority in 2002 when they discovered the pump in the courtroom. Foster indicated she told her co-workers, “If you do something about it, leave me out of it. I don’t want to be found dead in a ditch somewhere.”
Foster indicated that Thompson used two pumps over the course of three years, only in jury trials when he wore a robe. She indicated that the second pump was noticeably louder than the first.
Foster also testified that she started noting in the court record when she heard the pump so she could see if it appeared on her backup courtroom recording. Recordings from Thompson’s trials were played today by prosecutors with the jury listening on wireless headphones. Courtroom spectators were not allowed to hear the tapes.
Among other revelations, Foster testified that in one case, a juror asked Foster if she could help identify the sound coming from Thompson’s bench. Foster said she feigned ignorance but agreed to talk to Thompson. The juror said, “Would you ask the judge to quit it?”
Foster also indicated that Thompson often made himself at home behind the bench removing his shoes and shining them, fiddling with an organizer or spitting into a cup. She said she saw Thompson urinate into a trash can on two occasions.
One juror did not arrive for court this morning. No explanation for the juror’s absence was provided and an alternate juror took the place of the missing juror.
Authorities are still searching for 37 year old Angela McClanahan, the alleged mistress of the 59 year old Thompson. McClanahan was expected to testify about a misdemeanor charge of misusing state property filed against Thompson. She failed to show up in court when ordered and a felony warrant was issued for her arrest. When authorities went to arrest her at a home in Jenks, OK she reportedly fled out the back door and out run her pursuers into a wooded area. McClanahan has not be heard from since. State officials have identified McClanahan as the woman engaged in sex with Thompson in four photos that had been seized from a computer in his court chambers.
Trial Day #9 – June 27:
The cross-examination of prosecution witness Lisa Foster concluded with defense attorney Clark Brewster questioning Foster why she had not mentioned seeing Thompson shave his scrotum and urinate into a wastebasket twice or her notes as to when she heard the noises from the judges bench when questioned by investigators at the Sapulpa Police Department and before the Council on Judicial Complaints. Foster said, “I just answered the questions they asked me.”
Foster went on to state that she didn’t trust the investigators and didn’t want to testify against Thompson in the first place. She said that her decision to testify and the statements she made were not part of any plan by the Sapulpa Police Department to “do harm to Donald Thompson.”
Following the testimony and cross-examination of Foster the prosecution rested it case and the defense called its first witness, the defendant himself.
The former judge took the stand and denied allegations that he used a penis pump during trials in 2002 and 2003, that he ever shaved his scrotum in court and that he urinated into a trash can. He stated that there was no way he could use a penis pump in his courtroom without exposing himself to everyone and that he never even considered using the penis pump to curb his erectile dysfunction, especially not in open court. Regarding Foster’s testimony Thompson stated, “To me it’s inconceivable; it defies common sense.“
