Indecent Exposure From The Bench

An Oklahoma district judge charged with four felony counts of indecent exposure while presiding over trials has testified that a sexual device he kept under the bench was a joke gift from a friend.

Creek County Judge Donald Thomson is accused of repeatedly exposing his genitals, masturbating and using a penis pump in his courtroom during various jury and non jury trials. The Smoking Gun has the Oklahoma Attorney General’s juicy petition for the judge’s removal, which calls his conduct morally reprehensible.

The lengthy petition includes testimony from the judge’s former court reporter, various law enforcement officials and even jurors who witnessed his illegal behavior. One police sergeant testifying in a trial heard Judge Thompson play with his “joke” sex toy, which the sergeant said sounds like a blood pressure cuff when it gets pumped. Thompson’s court reporter testified that she saw his genitals more than 10 times during trials. The judge terminated her when he learned that she was cooperating with the investigation against him.

Rather than face removal by a judicial review board, Judge Thompson stepped down from the bench but if he is found criminally guilty by a jury, he could spend up to a decade in prison and lose his hefty pension of nearly $8,000 a month. His trial is expected to conclude in the next week.

Perhaps the judge should have skipped trial by reaching some kind of deal with authorities because, as the Functional Ambivalent points out, the former judge is enduring testimony so humiliating, a guilty plea seems like a better option than having all that stuff said in public.