BRISTOW, OK — Former Creek County, OK judge Donald Thompson’s days of playing with his penis pump while presiding over trials are now officially behind him. A jury spent slightly more than five hours deliberating his case before handing down a guilty verdict on all four counts of indecent exposure.In addition to one year in prison, the jury recommended a $10,000 fine for each of the counts against the 59-year-old ex-magistrate.
Although he showed no expression during the reading of the verdict, his wife was unable to restrain her tears. Thompson was taken into custody and Judge C. Allen McCall scheduled formal sentencing for August 14.
Thompson, whose bond was set at $75,000 will now be required to register as a sex offender and may lose the nearly $7,500 a month pension he earned while serving as a an eastern Oklahoma judge during the past 20 years.
Although Thompson and his attorney Clark Brewster insisted that the pump was a gag gift which had never been used, the jury was unconvinced, concluding that it had indeed seen action during four jury trials held in 2002 and 2003. Among the things making the defense’s case difficult was the fact that Thompson’s former court reporter, Lisa Foster, reluctantly testified that she had seen her boss expose himself at least 15 times. Testifying only after being subpoenaed and basically tracked down, Thompson claimed that she had feared for her continued employment. She was, in fact, fired once the investigation began.
Prosecutor Patricia High had harsh words for the fallen justice pointing out the irony of his situation. “He was at the pinnacle of the justice system in Creek County” she observed, adding that although he had “decided the rules did not apply to him,” the people were now able to see that “the system worked just like you hoped it would.”
