COURT TV
Retired District Court Judge Donald Thompson, 58, could get as many as 10 years in prison on each of three counts of indecent exposure if convicted, and would be required to register as a sex offender.
The charges stem from court personnel, jurors and trial witnesses who claim to have seen Thompson masturbate and use a sexual device known as a "penis pump" while presiding over two murder trials and one civil trial in 2003 in his Creek County courtroom.
Creek County court reporter Lisa Foster told police she saw Thompson attach the pump to his penis while court was in session and operate the device, "causing air pumping sounds" in open court, according to a police report.
Several jurors from the May 2003 trial provided similar statements to police, likening the noise to the sound of "pumping up an inflatable chair, or a hemorrhoid donut," a blood pressure cuff or a bicycle pump.
Others witnesses claimed to have seen changing facial expressions from the judge "in conjunction with the air noises and the movement of the judge's right arm."
From the witness stand in an August 2003 murder trial, Sapulpa Police Sergeant Michael Reed said he observed a tube between the judge's legs and heard pumping sounds followed by a zipping noise, the report states.
Reed told police that, during the lunch break, he looked beneath Thompson's bench and found the device.
Against defense objections, special Judge C. Allen McCall allowed prosecutors to introduce the sex toy into evidence for witnesses to identify.
Jurors will also hear about an alleged second pump as evidence of a pattern of behavior exhibited by Thompson, who stepped down In August 2004 after 23 years of service, which included a stint as chief judge of the district.
McCall, who was brought in from Lawton, Okla., to avoid conflicts of interest, is also considering a prosecution request to introduce pictures of an erect penis seized from the judge's computer for the witnesses to identify.
McCall has also not yet decided if he will permit jurors to hear an audio recording of the trials in question, during which prosecutors claim the "whooshing" sound of the device can be heard.
When Thompson retired, he avoided a trial to remove him from the bench on allegations of judicial misconduct and "moral turpitude." By doing so, he was able to collect on his reportedly $88,000 pension.
If convicted, his pension will be revoked.
Thompson's Tulsa-based lawyer, Clark Brewster, acknowledges that his client kept the pump behind the bench as part of a collection of knickknacks that he often "fiddled" with during breaks, among them a stress ball, a shoeshine kit and handheld games.
"It was a gag gift that was never operational," Brewster told Courttv.com. "He never attached the pump to his penis and he was not masturbating on the bench."
Brewster said he intended to call several witnesses who participated in the trials in question to refute testimony of the prosecution witnesses.
"The opportunity to perceive these alleged incidents is very narrow," he said.
Special prosecutors from across the state will also be brought in to try the case, which is expected to last about two weeks. They did not return calls for comment.
Retired District Court Judge Donald Thompson, 58, could get as many as 10 years in prison on each of three counts of indecent exposure if convicted, and would be required to register as a sex offender.
The charges stem from court personnel, jurors and trial witnesses who claim to have seen Thompson masturbate and use a sexual device known as a "penis pump" while presiding over two murder trials and one civil trial in 2003 in his Creek County courtroom.
Creek County court reporter Lisa Foster told police she saw Thompson attach the pump to his penis while court was in session and operate the device, "causing air pumping sounds" in open court, according to a police report.
Several jurors from the May 2003 trial provided similar statements to police, likening the noise to the sound of "pumping up an inflatable chair, or a hemorrhoid donut," a blood pressure cuff or a bicycle pump.
Others witnesses claimed to have seen changing facial expressions from the judge "in conjunction with the air noises and the movement of the judge's right arm."
From the witness stand in an August 2003 murder trial, Sapulpa Police Sergeant Michael Reed said he observed a tube between the judge's legs and heard pumping sounds followed by a zipping noise, the report states.
Reed told police that, during the lunch break, he looked beneath Thompson's bench and found the device.
Against defense objections, special Judge C. Allen McCall allowed prosecutors to introduce the sex toy into evidence for witnesses to identify.
Jurors will also hear about an alleged second pump as evidence of a pattern of behavior exhibited by Thompson, who stepped down In August 2004 after 23 years of service, which included a stint as chief judge of the district.
McCall, who was brought in from Lawton, Okla., to avoid conflicts of interest, is also considering a prosecution request to introduce pictures of an erect penis seized from the judge's computer for the witnesses to identify.
McCall has also not yet decided if he will permit jurors to hear an audio recording of the trials in question, during which prosecutors claim the "whooshing" sound of the device can be heard.
When Thompson retired, he avoided a trial to remove him from the bench on allegations of judicial misconduct and "moral turpitude." By doing so, he was able to collect on his reportedly $88,000 pension.
If convicted, his pension will be revoked.
Thompson's Tulsa-based lawyer, Clark Brewster, acknowledges that his client kept the pump behind the bench as part of a collection of knickknacks that he often "fiddled" with during breaks, among them a stress ball, a shoeshine kit and handheld games.
"It was a gag gift that was never operational," Brewster told Courttv.com. "He never attached the pump to his penis and he was not masturbating on the bench."
Brewster said he intended to call several witnesses who participated in the trials in question to refute testimony of the prosecution witnesses.
"The opportunity to perceive these alleged incidents is very narrow," he said.
Special prosecutors from across the state will also be brought in to try the case, which is expected to last about two weeks. They did not return calls for comment.
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