

In a story which couldn't possibly be any more quaint, a federal judge who "built a reputation for handing out stiff sentences, including for drug convictions," was reportedly caught by the FBI in an undercover sting buying drugs for his prostitute stripper girlfriend.



The Associated Press reports:

ATLANTA — A 67-year-old federal judge's wild relationship with a stripper started with a lap dance, prosecutors said, and quickly escalated into escapades of prostitution and gun-toting drug deals for cocaine and prescription pills.



[...]



Camp, a Vietnam War veteran who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, built a reputation for handing out stiff sentences, including for drug convictions. He could face years behind bars on drug and gun charges. The judge's attorney has said he intends to plead not guilty.



The stripper, who previously had a felony drug trafficking conviction, had been secretly working with the FBI since the spring to build a case against the judge. In exchange, prosecutors pledged not to charge her.



Camp's relationship with the dancer, who was not identified in court documents, began earlier this year. A day after receiving his first dance, he returned to the Goldrush Showbar for more dances, and added sex and cocaine to his tab, authorities said.



Over the next few months, the two used cocaine and other drugs together, sometimes at the strip club, and the judge would pay $40 to $50 to join her getting high, according to a sworn statement. So, theoretically, this alleged coke-head judge, who during his day job was sentencing people to rot in a cage for non-violent drug offenses, as soon as he got off from work went to the local strip club to snort cocaine and pay strippers for sex. Will the courts be as stiff with him with their drug sentences? Will they make him rot in a cage for years for his paying for prostitutes?



Don't bet on it.



While reports suggest some of the cases which he ruled over may have grounds to have their cases reexamined, this Atlanta Journal-Constitution report says they're basically screwed:

Froelich and other defense lawyers debated whether Camp’s arrest could open the door to court challenges from defendants convicted under the judge.



Parker, the former federal prosecutor, said Camp’s arrest “provides the opportunity” for a convicted felon to bring back a case.



Motions might cite “that the court was impaired or the court was addicted,” Parker said.



Cases where the defendant pleaded guilty would have no chance, Parker said, and other cases might lack merit for consideration.



“You would have to have some evidence,” Parker said. “You can’t just attach newspaper clippings.”



Froelich said, a defendant “would have to show Judge Camp was in league with one of the witnesses or ruling for the government because the government had something against him.”



One of Camp’s defense attorneys, Bill Morrison, said he doubted that the charges against the judge could prove fertile ground for appeals. While prisoners and jail-house lawyers may well file appeals, even “ingenious” defense lawyers would have a hard time making a persuasive case, he said. So, that the judge who sentences you to jail for your cocaine use was himself a coke-head, is apparently irrelevant to our glorious arbiters of "justice."



The real crime here is that this judge, and thousands of others just like him, are throwing hundreds of thousands of non-violent, non-criminals, in jail for non-crimes in which there is no victim.



UPDATE: He pled guilty.

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Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com. He thinks people shouldn't be thrown in cages for non-violent, non-crimes. You can read more of his commentary here.







