Sentencing Memo Calls Disgraced Judge ‘Tragic’

(CN) - In new court filings, lawyers for a former Georgia federal judge who pleaded guilty to using drugs with a stripper he met for sex described their client as "a lonely man in the twilight of his life [who] became entangled with a seductive prostitute more than willing to take advantage of his needs and his misguided impulse to be her friend and protector."

A memo filed in Atlanta's District Court on Friday requests sentencing leniency for former U.S. District Senior Judge Jack T. Camp. The 67-year-old has prostate cancer, a gravely ill sister also stricken with cancer and a mother with dementia, attorney William Taylor, with the Washington, D.C.-based firm Zuckerman Spaeder, states in the memo.

Taylor requested a sentence of probation and community service rather than forcing Camp to "languish in prison."

The memo goes on to state that Camp has "been the victim of depression, brain damage from a bicycle accident and personal tragedy." They say those incidents may have contributed to the behavior that led to his arrest.

He was arrested in October 2010 and charged with possessing and using cocaine, marijuana and Roxycodone with the exotic dancer; aiding and abetting her possession of the drugs while knowing that she is a drug felon; and possessing guns while using controlled substances.

Camp pleaded guilty a month later, admitting to buying drugs for the stripper he met at the Goldrush Showbar in Atlanta and letting her use his government-issued laptop. The former judge had been seeing the stripper for six months before he was arrested because he bought drugs from an undercover agent.

According to the Associated Press, Judge Thomas Hogan affirmed that the charges against him were correct by stating:"I regret... I am embarrassed to say it is, your honor."

Camp was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. His sentencing is scheduled for March 4.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit