OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is seeking the ouster of a Creek County judge who allegedly engaged in improper sexual conduct during court proceedings.
Edmondson filed a petition Wednesday with the state Court on the Judiciary against District Judge Donald D. Thompson (search) of Sapulpa.
Thompson, 57, placed himself in a position where his female court reporter viewed him using a penis pump multiple times, Edmondson alleged in the petition. The document also alleges that a court reporter saw other improper sexual conduct on a number of occasions.
The trial division of the state Court on the Judiciary presides over complaints against state judges and has the authority to remove them from the bench.
Thompson couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, but did deny the allegations during an investigation, Edmondson's petition stated.
Edmondson said he didn't think information alleged in the ouster petition against Thompson would result in overturning any trials where Thompson presided.
Among witnesses listed in Edmondson's petition are court personnel, the Sapulpa police chief and police officers who were present at a criminal trial in Thompson's court.
Edmondson accused the judge of violating the code of judicial ethics that requires high standards of conduct, among other things. He also alleged that Thompson committed an offense involving moral turpitude.
"The actions of Judge Thompson's in using a penis pump during trial where court personnel, witnesses and juries could either see or hear his actions at the least, constitutes conduct against good morals," Edmondson's petition stated.
In September 2000, Lisa K. Foster, court reporter for Thompson for 15 years, first started hearing a noise that "sounded like a blood pressure cuff (search) being pumped up," the petition by Edmondson stated. Foster told investigators she witnessed the judge's sexual behavior "fifteen to twenty times."
Edmondson alleges that Thomspon fired Foster after hearing she had cooperated with the investigation against him.
Thompson admitted the penis pump was under the bench during a criminal trial on Aug. 22, 2003, and at other times but denied using the pump, Edmondson's petition stated.
"He testified the pump was a gag gift from a friend," the petition stated.
Thompson served six years in the state House of Representatives starting in 1975.
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