I’m Glad I’m Not On This Jury!
UPDATE: The judge was convicted.
It’s been an embarrassing ordeal to try a judge accused of using a penis pump and exposing himself in the courtroom.
BRISTOW, Okla. (AP) - Serving on the jury in an indecent-exposure trial unfolding in this conservative Oklahoma town has been a giggle-inducing experience.
Former Judge Donald D. Thompson, a veteran of 23 years on the bench, is on trial on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of others.
Over the past few days, the jurors have watched a defense attorney and a prosecutor pantomime masturbation. A doctor has lectured on the lengths the defendant was willing to go to enhance his sexual performance.
The white-handled sexual device sits before the jury box for hours at a time. Occasionally an attorney picks it up and squeezes the handle, demonstrating the “sh-sh” sound of air rushing through the contraption’s plastic tubing.
I can just imagine those poor jurors cringing every time that happens.
Thompson’s former court reporter, Lisa Foster, wiped away tears as she described tracing an unfamiliar “sh-sh” in the courtroom to her boss. She testified that between 2001 and 2003 she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times.
…She testified that during a trial in 2002, she heard the pump during the emotional testimony of a murdered toddler’s grandfather.
The grandfather “was getting real teary-eyed, and the judge was up there pumping on that pump,” she said. “It was sickening.”
The allegations came to light after a police officer who was in Thompson’s court heard pumping sounds and took photos of the device during a break in the proceedings.
Judge Thompson claims the pump was a gag gift from a longtime friend with whom he had joked about erectile dysfunction. He said he never used it and should have thrown away. That certainly would have been best.