I could not help but talk about this news out of Mobile, Alabama, where I first practiced law right out of law school commencing in 1977. While Mobile was a gracious city in many ways - the Mardi Gras balls and parades were great fun - Alabama as a whole seems to have become far more reactionary and in comparison Norfolk is a bright center of the gay universe. I have friends who have "come out" since I left Mobile to become in-house counsel for an oil company based in Houston, and from the communications I have had with them being totally out is still not an option if one is in the business community. Thus, the indictment of a Mobile Circuit Court judge for sexual improprieties with inmates is just too wild to pass up. It is a bit distressing that defense council is trying to blame the indictments on racism. Here are some highlights from the Mobile Press-Register on what has to be the talk of the legal community:*
MOBILE, Ala. -- Herman Thomas, while a Mobile County circuit judge, checked male inmates out of Metro Jail to exert control over them and force them into sexual activity, according to indictments released today. About 1½ years after stepping down from the bench, Thomas was arrested today outside the same jail on charges of kidnapping, sodomy, extortion, sex abuse and ethics violations. A special grand jury met for three weeks this month and returned 57 felony charges against Thomas. The indictment lists nine alleged victims, each of them current or former inmates.
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"These are very serious charges," some carrying up to life in prison, said District Attorney John Tyson Jr. Thomas was taken into custody outside the jail as his attorney, Robert "Cowboy Bob" Clark, held an afternoon news conference amid reports of an impending arrest.
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Clark suggested his client's indictment was motivated by racism. "This is racism at its very finest. We ought to be proud we elected those bastards," said Clark in an apparent reference to Tyson and former Thomas colleagues on the bench.
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Each of Thomas' alleged victims at one time faced charges in Mobile County Circuit Court, according to online court records. The allegations against them ranged from criminal mischief to murder. . . According to Friday's grand jury allegations, Thomas "knowingly" subjected the young men "to sexual contact, by forcible compulsion."
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Tyson said Clark's accusations that Thomas' troubles stem from racism at Government Plaza are "absolute nonsense." Nicki Patterson, the chief assistant district attorney, later pointed out that all the alleged victims are black. Thomas is black.
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