Bubbaworld

Commentary and Opinion About the Masturbating Judge of Creek County, Oklahoma

When the initial rumors of the Masturbating Judge surfaced back in 2003 we at Bubbaworld cringed as we felt that surely these rumors can not be true. By the summer of 2004 we became convinced that not only were the rumors true but that this would be a case that would achieve world- wide notoriety and we were not wrong.

The story of the Masturbating Judge of Oklahoma not only became news both nationally and internationally it became fodder for comics everywhere, including Jay Leno, David Letterman and other late-night television personalities. The latest off-color humor in the wake of the former judge’s sentencing is that “his four year sentence equates to one year per-inch”.

While it is human nature to giggle at such humor, the harsh reality of this shameful case is that not only did Judge Thompson destroy his reputation and his career, he also managed to damage if not destroy the faith that Oklahomans held in their judicial system. No longer can judges, even those with impeccable character, be looked upon with confidence as being above the personal failures which bring so many Oklahomans before them.

In spite of evidence at Thompson’s trial indicating that his bizarre behavior dates back to the year 2000, only four instances of his masturbating and other improper activities on the bench during trials were addressed and then only to support Thompson’s conviction on four counts of indecent exposure. No one wants to address the implications of a judge engaging in illegal acts over a period of years, during numerous trials and the effects of his acts upon the rights of those that appeared before him.

What reasonable person believes that a judge can, while engaged in acts of masturbation, perform his legal duties in a proper manner? What reasonable person believes that a judge, while shaving his scrotum, is actually paying attention to anything other than the task at hand? What reasonable person believes that those that appeared before Judge Thompson while he was engaging in these acts received a fair trial, either criminal or civil?

And yet in spite of these troubling questions, the Oklahoma judicial system, the Attorney General and practically every district attorney that has been quoted in the media voices the opinion that Thompson’s actions and conviction should not be viewed as requiring reopening of cases tried in Thompson’s court. These opinions have been voiced even after it was proven that Thompson engaged in these illegal and obviously distracting activities during numerous trials.

There’s something very wrong with a legal system that claims such misconduct on the part of a trial judge is not cause to re-open those cases tried in that judge’s court. It is that type of thinking and excusing of misconduct that led Judge Thompson to think he was above the law.

If ever Oklahoma’s justice system is to over-come its status as laughingstock of the world it is going to require a lot more than putting one old pervert with a big ego into prison for four years.

It is going to require that Oklahoma’s justice system actually strive for justice rather than simply laying low until the laughter dies down…