Originally Posted - June 29, 2006

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BRISTOW, OK---The case of former District Court judge Donald Thompson has gone to the jury.

If convicted of the four felony counts of indecent exposure he is accused of for using a penis pump which presiding over proceedings including murder trials, Thompson could face a stiff sentence.

Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and if convicted, he would have to register as a sex offender and lose his pension of about $7,500 a month.

The seven woman, five man jury heard closing statements in the case Thursday morning. Testimony had concluded Wednesday with Thompson denying the allegations of two court reporters who had initially filed the complaint against him in 2003 for using the sexual device during trials. Thompson said that he was the target of a conspiracy by the Sapulpa Police Department who wanted him off the bench because he had made adverse rulings against them.

Thompson, 59, a judge for 20 years, denied that he had ever used a penis pump or masturbated during open court proceedings. He said that one penis pump that was claimed he utilized during court was inoperative and he said he never used the other one which he said had been a birthday gift. He told jurors that it had never put the device on his penis "not ever and I never shaved my private parts".

That was in response to the allegation made by former court reporter Lisa Foster who had testified that she had seen Thompson shave his scrotum in court. Thompson said that back in the mid 1990s, a doctor might have given him a pump and some literature on how to operate it. When shown a picture of a penis pump that Foster had taken and had testified was the one used by Thompson, the former judge couldn't or wouldn't identify it and said he thought that the pump had been thrown away. He said he had never used the penis pump in the photograph.

When asked about the whooshing sounds that jurors and court reporters had testified to as coming from the bench during trials, Thompson said he couldn't remember if he had ever squeezed the pump handle but he might have. He said the penis pump handle had been a tension reliever for him during court proceedings.

Several local attorneys and other court officers testified on Thompson's behalf, saying that they had never seen anything unusual in his courtroom and hadn't heard any whooshing sounds.

Foster, Thompson's court reporter for 15 years, had testified Monday and said that when she saw Thompson shaving his scrotum during the 2002 trial of a woman accused or murdering her 21-month old baby, she was "shocked and disgusted".

Foster said that she first heard the "sh-sh" sounds in September 2000 but it took her until February 2001 before she realized that the sound was coming from the judge and testified that she saw his penis in the plastic tube of the device. Jurors had heard courtroom recordings in which a pumping sound can be heard in the background with Foster identifying the sound as coming from the pump that she had seen.

The trial was extremely graphic with descriptions of Thompson's penis given by Foster for the jury. A urologist had earlier testified about treating Thompson for erectile dysfunction, and offered the same description of a penis stimulated by such a pump.

Foster testified how she told fellow court reporter Theresa Clee what she had seen in the courtroom and that Clee had stood by the courtroom door while Foster took pictures of the penis pump. She said that she took three photos, giving one to Clee and taking the other two home because she was afraid she wouldn't be believed.

She said she was afraid to talk about what she had seen because she was afraid of losing her job. Police officers also took photographs of the pump.

In 2004, Foster was subpoenaed to give a deposition for the state judicial review board and the day after she testified, Thompson fired both her and his secretary bailiff.

Clee, who had recorded one of Thompson's trials in September, 2003, testified that she had seen Thompson use hand lotion and fondle himself during the trial.

A state forensic expert from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation testified Friday that tests of stains found on a judicial robe, a chair and carpet under Thompson's desk in the Creek County Court chamber were genetically matched to Thompson and could belong to no one else.

A positive DNA match for seminal fluid was found on the items that proved conclusively it was from Thompson, J.D. Linstrom testified. Lindstrom testified that material found on the penis pump which has been introduced into evidence couldn't be positively ID'd as from Thompson but said that the odds of it being matched with another person were one in 6,800.

He testified that he had found no evidence of seminal fluids on the courtroom furniture or carpet where two court reporters have testified he exposed himself to them in 2003.

Thompson's urologist, Dr. S. Edward Dakil, testified Friday that Thompson was treated for erectile dysfunction but said Thompson had no other medical problems and testified he had treated Thompson since 1988 and identified the penis pump in evidence as a vacuum device designed to mechanically aid in maintaining an erection. He testified that Thompson had had a vasectomy in 1988 and was incapable of producing sperm.

In opening testimony, the jury saw pictures of the penis pump, taken by a police caption during a 2003 trial. The police officer testified Tuesday that he had been on the stand during the 2003 trial when he heard an "air pressure" noise. He told the jury that he had seen Thompson sitting with his elbows on his knees and that there was a tube running up his robe, between his knees but that he had never seen Thompson expose himself. Two other police officers also testified that they had heard the whooshing noise come from the direction of the judge during the August 2003 murder trial.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/062306GagOrder.html 6-29-06

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