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Update
Judge Timothy Blakely
May 12, 2009
District Judge Timothy Blakely (pictured far left) should be permanently removed from office, the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards has recommended.Blakely, 46, who sits in Dakota and Goodhue counties, admittedly steered business to a divorce attorney who had given Blakely a discounted rate for handling his divorce case, the board said.
In the decision filed Monday, the board found that Blakely's actions "deprived citizens of their right to the honest service expected of a public official, possibly in violation of state or federal laws."
The board also said that "Blakely failed to admit that his conduct was improper and did not take responsibility for his actions."
The final decision on the judge's discipline will rest with the Minnesota Supreme Court; that process that can take anywhere from three to five months. Blakely will remain in office during that time, his attorney, Thomas M. Kelley, said today. "We're hopeful that the Supreme Court will look at this independently and objectively," Kelley told the Star Tribune.
The board began an investigation in April, 2007. Blakely subsequently requested a formal hearing, which was held in November to determine whether he had violated the Code of Judicial Conduct. During that hearing, Blakely acknowledged getting the large discount -- a $68,503 reduction on a $108,876 bill -- for an attorney who handled his contentious divorce.
Previous Post
March 11, 2009
A three-member panel of the state Board on Judicial Standards today recommended censure and a six-month unpaid suspension for Goodhue and Dakota County District Judge Timothy Blakely. Led by former Supreme Court Justice Edward Stringer, the board found "clear and convincing evidence" that Blakely violated judicial rules and the state code of judicial conduct by accepting a $63,503 markdown on his $108,876 divorce and appointing his attorney as a mediator in cases he oversaw.
Lawrence Redmond and retired Hennepin County District Judge Allen Oleisky also were on the panel. The recommendation now goes to the entire board for action. The board can dismiss, accept or modify the panel's recommendation. The board's recommendation then goes to the state Supreme Court, which takes briefs, hears arguments, and ultimately will decide what, if any, punishment Blakely faces.
Blakely was on the bench and did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Acting as prosecutor for the board, lawyer Doug Kelley of Minneapolis had sought Blakely's removal.
The investigation into Blakely's actions began after his ex-wife complained he got special treatment. The nine-page complaint included numerous e-mails between the judge and his lawyer Christine Stroemer. According to the complaint, the judge struggled to pay the tab for his contentious divorce, which started in October 2002 and ended in September 2004. By December 2003, he was "severely delinquent" in paying his divorce fees to Stroemer, of the firm Collins, Buckley, Sauntry & Haugh.
Before his divorce, Blakely had not appointed Stroemer to mediate any divorces over which he presided in court, the complaint said. But in November 2004 he "ordered parties appearing before him" in a Dakota County case to submit to mediation with Stroemer. Divorcing couples pay their own mediation costs.
In the first two months of 2005, he appointed Stroemer as a mediator in three Dakota County District Court divorces, according to the complaint.
The panel's 15-page report noted that in testimony "Blakely acknowledged that his reference to significant past and future business referrals while negotiating a fee reduction with Stroemer raises the question of whether he was offering a quid pro quo."
But Blakely argued that it wouldn't be a "reasonable inference" to an informed person: "The question is, is it a fully informed person or some guy standing in the courtroom who doesn't know anything about what we do for a living?"
The panel found his explanation to be "hardly credible," given his repeated failures to advise Stroemer that there was no quid pro quo.
The judge admitted to the board's executive director that his e-mails with Stroemer "looked like crap" and that he had an "ah-ha moment" and "could see a question was raised" by the exchanges, the report said. In a letter, he acknowledged that, "I now also see that as a judge, I should not have mentioned my ability to continue to direct business referrals to [the firm] in the context of a negotiation over the fees I owed them."
Thomas Kelly, who represented Blakely, has said his client simply referred clients to his attorney as anyone might refer someone to a good lawyer. Kelly wasn't immediately available for comment today. Blakely was elected to the bench in 1998. His term expires in 2010.
C.J. Note: A six month suspension for using judicial authority to pay private debts is the epitome of Corrupt Justice.
Thomas E. Stringer
April 23, 2009
Thomas E. Stringer (pictured far left), the well-respected, married judge suddenly found his face splashed beside that of a troubled exotic dancer in a kimono (pictured right of judge). She went on TV to claim they'd been romantically involved, and that he helped her hide money from creditors, even putting a rent-controlled New York City apartment under his name for her.Stringer's 35-year legal career was tarnished. "It is axiomatic that 'Judge' and 'Stripper' showing up in a headline is never a good thing, especially if you happen to be the 'Judge,'" then Tampa Tribune columnist Daniel Ruth wrote after the story broke.
Criminal charges are possible, though the FBI declined to comment. The state agency that oversees judges dropped misconduct charges after Stringer, who stepped down in February and draws monthly retirement benefits of $8,069, agreed never to be a judge again.
To his friends and the legal community, the speed of Stringer's fall was shocking. Many are reserving judgment, while others feel their trust in him was misplaced. Delano Stewart, a Tampa attorney who calls himself a former friend of Stringer, said Stringer's conduct "disrespects all of what I have worked for all of my life." "I am so deeply angry with him," Stewart said.
Stringer, 64, graduated from Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport in the 1970s. He was the first black graduate from his law school. He became an assistant state attorney and later a circuit judge in Tampa's Hillsborough County. There, in the family law division, he built a reputation as a judge who insisted that all sides be heard. "I can tell you, the family lawyers idolized Tom Stringer," said Chief Judge Stevan T. Northcutt of Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal. In 1999, Stringer was appointed to that court, where judges make $153,140 a year.
Fast forward to March 2008. Yamanaka, 48, showed up on a local TV station, dressed in a yellow kimono with burnt orange flowers, her long, dark hair flowing. She said she met the judge at an Italian restaurant in 1995, when she was a stripper in Tampa. Five years later, she was deep in debt and turned to him for advice. Later, she said she went public after Stringer refused to repay money he owed her.
Yamanaka had tried to file for bankruptcy in Nevada in 2000 and court documents show she owed American Express more than $78,000, racked up from stays at expensive hotels in Las Vegas and airline tickets. She owed Bank of America another $236,000. She listed her occupation as housewife and said she had just $450 in assets _ family pictures, clothes and a wedding ring _ and no income. The bankruptcy court denied her request, meaning she would have to repay the debts.
Yamanaka, who is divorced, said the judge helped by allowing her to deposit tens of thousands of dollars she made from stripping in Las Vegas and New York into his accounts so creditors wouldn't know she had an income. "Judge suggests to me to put the money into his account," Yamanaka told WFLA-TV in Tampa. "Due to his position nobody bothered him so it would be safe." Stringer told reporters he let her use his accounts because she had terrible credit but denied helping her hide money.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which oversees judges in Florida, investigated and found probable cause to believe Stringer had opened bank accounts in his name and let her use them from 2003 to 2007 to hide assets. The commission's inquiry does not say how much money might have passed through the accounts. The allegations listed by the commission only get worse: Stringer listed himself as the sole owner of a home in Hawaii for her. He accepted a trip from her to Las Vegas, a gift he did not disclose though judicial canons require reporting all gifts over $100. He went to New York to sign a lease on an apartment for her, putting it under his name, and allowed her to treat him to a stay at The Waldorf-Astoria hotel. He asked her to buy two Rolex watches, one for him and one for his wife. He borrowed $50,000 from her in a no-interest loan that he failed to repay. None of the transactions was included on the financial disclosure report required of judges.
The alleged acts "constitute conduct unbecoming a member of the judiciary," the commission concluded. When the commission charged Stringer with ethical violations in January, his lawyer called it "tragic."
Stringer, who has said he had a friendship and business relationship with stripper Christy Yamanaka, declined to comment for this story. His attorney did not return repeated messages left at his office. Yamanaka also declined to comment.
Judge James Peck
March 16, 2009
Prosecutors in Manhattan dropped assault charges on Monday against a federal bankruptcy judge accused of hitting his wife in the face, saying that the wife was not cooperating in the case.
The judge, James M. Peck, 63, (pictured far left) was arrested on Jan. 31 after his wife, Judith, 66, called 911 from their home on Park Avenue near 87th Street, the authorities said. He was accused of hitting his wife with an open palm, causing pain in her jaw that required treatment at a hospital, according to a complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court. Judge Peck was charged with third-degree attempted assault and second-degree harassment.
Melissa Sussman, an assistant district attorney, said in court that the charges were being dismissed for “a number of reasons, including the complaining witness being uncooperative.”
Judge Peck, who has been overseeing the bankruptcy case of Lehman Brothers, was appointed in 2006 to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
At the time of Judge Peck’s arrest, Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department, said that the police had never before been called to the Pecks’ home about a domestic dispute.
Barry A. Bohrer, a lawyer for Judge Peck, said, “We are gratified that the district attorney recognized that this matter did not belong in the criminal justice system. It’s a personal and private matter and it was appropriately dismissed and sealed.”
C.J. Note: If Judge Peck were a normal, private citizen, he'd still be in jail.
Sexually Offensive Judges
• Perverted Judges! - Part I
• Judge Jack Gifford, Retired, Solicitation
• Judge Ronald C. Kline, Child Pornography
• Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham, Solicitation
Judicial Miscreants
• Corrupt Judges & Prosecutors
• Corrupt Judges, Frame-ups & Graft
• Corrupt Judges! - Part II
• Judges of the Regents of the University of California
Judges of Interest
• James J. Marchiano, Corrupt Judge
• Stuart Hing, Corrupt Judge (Recent Appointment)
• Douglas E. Swager, Corrupt Judge
• Martin Jenkins, Corrupt Judge ("Uncle Tom")
• David Bernard Flinn, Corrupt Judge
• John T. Noonan, Corrupt Judge of the 9th Circuit
• Former Judge Ralph B. Robertson, Racist
• Judge Kenneth R. Kingsbury, Ret., Racist, Corrupt
Cops that Sexually Offend
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part I)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part II)
• Sexually Offensive Cops! (Part III)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part IV)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part V)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part VI)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part VII)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part VIII)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part IX)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part X)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XI)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XII)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XIII)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XIV)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XV)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XVI)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XVII)
• Cops that Sexually Offend! (Part XVIII)
Cops & Domestic Violence
• Wife Killing Cops! - Part I
• Wife Killing Cops! - Part II
• Blue Spousal Abuse! - Part III
• Deputy Paul R. Kovacich, Wife Killer
Murderous Police Officers
• B.A.R.T.+L.A.P.D.=187(P.C.)(LAPD Detective arrested for cold case homicide; and B.A.R.T. Transit Killer-Cop!)
• Cops or Killers?
• Five - "O" Homicide(White Cop kills black cop after "mistaking" black cop for criminal!)
• NYPD - A History of Homicidal Cops(A history of NYPD Officers committing murder!)
• Arthur Tessler, Jason R. Smith & Gregg Junnier(Alanta Police Officers lie to obtain search warrant; murder 90-year old woman; and then plant drugs to cover-up murder)
• PA State Trooper Kevin Foley, Murderous(Convicted March 18, 2009 of First-Degree Murder. Killed girlfriend's ex-hubby (Dentist)!!)
• PA State Trooper Samuel J. Hassan, Murderous(March 15, 2009 Murder of Unarmed motorist. Previously shot and killed 12 year old African-American boy!!)
• Homer Police Department(February 20, 2009 Murder of Unarmed Black Man, 73 year old black man by two white police officers in Homer, Louisiana!!)
• Taser Deaths by the Police!
• New Orleans Police Department(January 1, 2009 Murder of Unarmed Black Man, shot nine (9) times in the back!!)
Oakland, California Police Department
• Officer Pat Gonzales: Racist, Murderous Oakland Police Officer - 3 Killings
• Officer Hector Jimenez: Racist, Murderous Oakland Police Officer - 2 Killings
• Captain Edward Poulson, OPD(Beating Death of Suspect (2000) Promoted in 2008)
• Investigator interfered in police probes of former bakery CEO
• Oakland Police Department, Corrupt, I
• Oakland, California Police Department, Corruption, II
• Oakland Police Department, III
• Oakland Police Department, IV
• Oakland Police Department, V - Major Corruption
• Jeff Loman, Deputy Chief, OPD(Updated: Re-instated as a (demoted) Lieutenant)
• Deborah Edgerly, Corrupt former Oakland City Administrator
Oakland, CA Transit Cop Shooting
• Mehserle Makes Bail!!!(Updated May 18, 2009) January 1, 2009 Murder of Unarmed Black Man, shot once (1) in the back!!)
• Tony Pirone, B.P.D.(Mehserle Accomplice - Jan. 1, 2009 Homicide)
• Johannes Mehserle, Killer Cop(Oakland's New Year's (2009) Transit Killer Cop)
• The B.A.R.T. Shooting Investigation(The Investigation of Oakland's New Year's (2009) Transit Killer Cop)
• The B.A.R.T. Aftermath (The Oakland Riots New (2009))
• B.A.R.T. Police, Racism, Homicide(Video of The Oakland New Year's Day (2009) Transit Shooting )
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