Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr. has been arrested on charges that he purchased drugs on several occasions from an Atlanta club stripper with whom he was having a sexual relationship.
Camp, 67, is charged with purchasing and using cocaine, marijuana, Hydrocodone and Roxicodone. The allegations include an intimate relationship with an exotic dancer from the Goldrush Showbar.
His lawyer Bill Morrison insists “[t]his is not a case about judging . . . It is a case about judgment.”
Camp was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and was the former chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Atlanta before taking senior status.
Agents also stated that they found two illegal firearms in Camp’s car.
Among his notable cases, Camp handed down a life sentence to former pro wrestler Harrison “Hardbody” Norris for luring women to his home and using them as prostitutes. In this case, he is charged with paying prostitutes for sex and using drugs with them.
Judge Camp was released on a $50,000 unsecured bond.
Source: AJC
Why didn’t DOJ offer Judge Camp a deal in return for spilling the beans about other crimes?
Sorry, no impeachment defense in this one.
Judge pleaded guilty two two counts, including a felony, and resigned from federal bench.
Good night.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2010/11/federal_judge_yeah_i_gave_cocaine_to_that_stripper.php?ref=fpa
One way to look at it is that the reason that prostitution is practically always illegal is that it has resulted in increase in a variety of other associated crimes.
When it comes to procedural due process, I want the courts both state and federal to implement the best forms based systems they can.
I was just reading an AngryBear blog by Beverly Mann (which I posted on) regarding federal and state jurisdictional issues. So then seeing my email and coming over here it reminded me that lack of confidence regarding federal judges are a reason that someone with a federal issue might want to use state court. And vice versa. It’s not that different than the way people avoid certain businesses.
http://www.angrybearblog.com/2010/10/what-recent-in-chambers-order-by.html#more
This is what happens when you don’t rely on specialists.
You don’t let your doctor fix your your plumbing and you shouldn’t let your hookers be your drug dealers. When it comes to services, they are just like tools: the multi-taskers may do lots of things, but they rarely do one thing really well.
Bad judge!
But I bring you, Your “Honor”, the oft repeated and slightly cleaner version of the question my grandfather shared with me when presented with this kind of dilemma.
“Is the screwing you’re getting worth the screwing you’re getting?”
Well, Judge Camp . . .
Was it?
Aren’t there relevant sayings like “what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”? I don’t understand why officials who are charged with enforcing drug laws don’t have to abide by the same laws.
Personally I like to drink wine sometimes, a legal activity. But that doesn’t mean I want my judges or bus drivers to be drunk when they are driving or hearing cases. Nottingham was so drunk at a lap dance club that he couldn’t remember how he spent $3,000. Yet that was on a work night and he worked the next day. I read that if you drink a lot at night you are still legally drunk the next day. So why aren’t judges treated like bus drivers and airline pilots and required to blow before presiding in court.
I read about a Denver Police officer who beat up someone so I looked thru the City of Denver website to find out their policy on testing police for substance abuse. I couldn’t find any evidence that they actually do these tests — they warn that there may be random tests but it seems like an empty threat never carried out.
Another issue with this arrest is where were the U.S. Marshals who are supposed to guard federal judges 24/7 when the judge was using drugs and purchasing prostitution services? Should the Marshals report judges who they know are drinking to excess, using drugs, going to brothels etc.? Former judge Naughty Nottingham’s use of prostitution services was exposed by his ex-wife not the Marshals but I don’t see how they couldn’t have known. And when the reports came out about his being super drunk at the Diamond Cabaret Lap Dance Club there was no discussion about who was the designated driver so I think the Marshals were driving him. The Colorado Marshals don’t actually have that many employees so I think that the same officers were regularly escorting Nottingham to his strip club and brothels and I think that is why they imprisoned me without a criminal charge or arraignment or trial. I think someone took compromising photos of Marshals interacting with prostitutes. That’s bad when the Marshals can arrest and imprison innocent people like me without criminal procedure.
Another issue is use of federal court houses after hours. Years ago I had a government office and I could come and go thru the basement entrance 24/7 and bring in anyone I wanted. So when I read an affidavit by a driver for a brothel that he had brought prostitutes to Nottingham’s, or his son’s, condo and one other location I blogged asking whether the court house offices could be or were used for sexual encounters after hours but got no denials. It is already on record that Nottingham’s ex wife was in his office, a lawyer who appeared in his cases was able to wonder around the office area of the court house, and that Chicago federal judge Manning had a club of lawyers who regularly had music jams/ band practice in her federal courthouse office after hours.
whenever i write like that it always drops the first word.
In georgia, there’s no such thing as an illegal firearm
Agents also stated that they found two illegal firearms in Camp’s car
=================================================================it’s georgia, there’s no such thing as an illegal firearm.
Nottingham also had a reputation as a harsh sentencer and for being rude to lawyers. There was problems with his conviction of Joe Nacchio because he refused to allow an expert to testify and he refused to allow evidence that the stock options would have expired in two weeks or so if Nacchio hadn’t exercised them when he did. There were also some articles saying that Nacchio was targeted by DOJ because he resisted warrant-less wire tapping. It sounds plausible that DOJ ignored evidence against Nottingham because they liked having a mean judge for their criminal prosecutions.
I met a lawyer in Wisconsin who said he had a case before Nottingham in Colorado and that Nottingham went out of his way to set hearings for Wed 8 a.m. so that he would have to fly in on Tuesday.
It is interesting that this case is so similar to the one with the wrestler that he sentenced to life. I don’t know the details on that case, but it is ironic that he is now hoping that he gets something far less for his crimes.
Judges live with a tremendous amount of justifications from all of the sentences that they handed down and could have had reservations for their actions. It is a tough position to pass judgement on your fellow man, but that is his job. We will see how well he does when one of his colleagues does the same to him. I will be that he doesn’t get a life sentence. Admitted, he probably doesn’t have priors and he wasn’t involved in kidnapping, but if he walks with probation, he will thank his lucky stars that he was a judge.
BTW:
Speaking of harsh sentences,There was supposedly a judge in Newark back in the day when it came to sentencing, the judge would look at the clock and what ever time it was that was your sentence.If you had been found guilty of what ever the charge was and you were facing jail time.
“The judge had a reputation as a harsh sentencer. He also owned a 19th century farmhouse and 175-acre farm, and was known to quote Shakespeare from the bench. “It’s almost like a Shakespearean tragedy,” said Atlanta defense attorney Jack Martin. Almost! But, not quite”
“harsh sentencer.”
I have said this before the ones that rail the most seem to be the ones you have to watch.
Another impeachment defense for the professor?
This case illustrates the need of a criminal trial prior to any impeachment in the House.
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/meet-the-federal-judge-who-allegedly-bought-coke-from-a-stripper.php Apparently, the stripper was taping him.
This sounds similar to the circumstances surrounding “my judge” Naughty Nottingham. The feds served a search warrant against Microsoft for yahoo records of the Denver Players Brothel and got Nottingham’s cell phone records and lawyers’ credit cards but they haven’t made any arrests yet. Nottingham ordered me imprisoned for 5 months without a criminal charge or a finding I disturbed a hearing because I filed a Rule 60b(3) petition in a nonrendering court asking for relief from his judgments against me, which were issued without a memorandum opinion.
I have long suspected that Nottingham was using drugs also for these reasons: 1.) My original defendant Kevin Bennett has acknowledged publicly that he has a felony conviction for conspiracy to sell hash. 2.) I had heard (gossip) that Bennett was a long term cocaine user. 3.) Nottingham is skinny and looks like a speed user. 4.) Nottingham has a long term association with ski resorts known for cocaine use. 5.) Nottingham had family money and once was a rich college student.
6.) When I was a poor college student at MIT in 1971, I heard that rich college students at Harvard, who would have been in Nottingham’s age bracket, were using coke. 7.) I heard a lot of other stories about educated people in Nottingham’s age bracket, on Wall Street etc., using cocaine. 8.) Since I am female I lack certain experiences, but I heard that cocaine functions much like Viagra.
It really makes sense to me that a judicial corruption scheme would use brothels, strippers and drugs instead of just paying bribes because the illegal services and substances would be less expensive than straight bribes and because once a judge partakes they could gather cell phone pictures etc. and blackmail him to continue illegal acts.
Nice Article….
I had to look up Roxycodrone. This judge is just another drug addict that’s gone insane.
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Well, well … another impeachment process … and if the Porteous impeachment is any indication, conviction on these charges isn’t necessary, nor a promise of resignation … right? Slippery slope …