Spank BKMP SP, Judge
Judge Accused Of Paddling Inmates
By WKRG Staff
Updated: September 05 2007 |The NAACP is supporting Circuit Judge Herman Thomas, who is accused of paddling jail inmates in his office. At a morning news conference, Mobile Chapter NAACP President Jimmie Gardner is calling for a Department of Justice investigation and alleges District Attorney John Tyson of coercing information from inmates. Gardner says inmates who thought they were attending a court hearing for their own case, were instead interrogated by D.A. John Tyson without an attorney present and promised lighter sentences in return for information. Gardner says one inmate who was questioned has signed an affidavit that he knows nothing about paddling incidents.
The Mobile Press-Register is reporting Thomas is accused of periodically removing prisoners from Mobile County Metro Jail and spanking them in a room at the courthouse. According to the Press-Regiser, once inside the room, the judge would ask the men to drop their pants and prepare to be spanked with what was described as a wooden paddle. Judge Thomas told the Press Register that he did not have any comment on the allegations. Sources also say that between six to 12 men have shared their accounts with investigators. Thomas is preparing for an October 29th judicial ethics trial in Montgomery that could remove him from the bench permanently. Those ethics charges allege that he helped his cousin, former Mobile County School Board Commissioner David Thomas, Jr. Investigators say Judge Thomas removed David Thomas from the crowded Mobile Metro Jail to the Prichard City Jail when Thomas was ordered to serve a week long sentence for leaving the scene of an accident that injured a little girl.
Watch the entire NAACP news conference. Be patient, it will take a little
