US judge faces sack for 'immodest conduct'
24/06/2004 - 9:10:39 PM

An American judge is facing the sack after using a “penis pump” during court hearings, including a murder trial, it emerged today.

Several witnesses reported hearing the noise of the pump coming from beneath the robes of District Court Judge Donald Thompson, who sits in Oklahoma.

On one occasion a shorthand writer was shocked to see the 57-year-old judge masturbating during a trial, according to documents filed by the state attorney general.

The typist, Lisa Foster, told investigators she first started hearing a sound “like a blood pressure cuff being pumped up” in September 2000.

“Over the course of time, from where she sat in her court reporter chair, Lisa Foster saw Judge Thompson place a penis pump on his penis ’maybe ten’ times during either a non-jury or jury trial and operate the pump,” the legal papers said.

They went on: “Ms Foster saw judge Thompson masturbate on a number of occasions and during the course of her employment, saw his penis 15 to 20 times.

“On one occasion, Ms Foster saw Judge Thompson holding his penis up and shaving underneath it with a disposable razor while on the bench.”

The bizarre events were also witnessed by police officers giving evidence during a murder trial in Judge Thompson’s court, the legal papers said.

One “heard ’a swooshing kind of air, like kind of ch, ch’ and saw Judge Thompson making some movement with his upper body and arms” the papers said.

During an interval in the court proceedings, in August 2003, one officer discovered the pump and photographed it as evidence against the judge.

The documents continued: “A juror commented to Ms Foster during the August 22, 2003, trial that she heard a ’popping’ sound and asked what that sound was. Another juror said the noise sounded like sh, sh.”

But when she confronted him, the judge said to Ms Foster: “I don’t know what they’re talking about. Do you?”

When he was interviewed by investigators, Judge Thompson admitted that the pump was under the bench during the August 2003 murder trial but said it was a joke gift from a friend and he never used it.

State Attorney General Drew Edmondson has petitioned a court to have the judge removed for his “immodest conduct”.

He is accused by the Attorney General of violating rules governing the judiciary and “moral turpitude”.

“This conduct is immoral in itself by the doing of the act and therefore, constitutes an offence involving moral turpitude,” the legal papers state.

The court papers were obtained by American website The Smoking Gun, part of Court TV.

Judge Thompson, who sits at Creek County District Court in Oklahoma, could not be reached for comment.