Judicial Power Corrupts

Pedophile Local Judge Disbarred for Sexually Exploiting a Minor
The New Jersey Law Journal by Michael Booth - February 3, 2009

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ordered the disbarment of former Superior Court Judge Stephen Thompson based on his federal conviction of sexual exploitation of a minor, a crime found to reflect adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer. The court, in an order made public Monday, adopted the Disciplinary Review Board's recommendation that disbarment was the only appropriate sanction for Thompson's conduct, which included downloading child pornography in his chambers and traveling to Russia to have sex with an underage boy.

In April 2003, state police officers and Camden County Prosecutor's Office investigators raided Thompson's Haddon Township home and his summer house in Avalon, N.J. The search found child pornography, including a videotape of him engaged in a sex act with a boy believed to have been between 13 and 16. His passport showed he had traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 20, 2002, and returned five days later. Thompson had been a Superior Court judge in Camden County for 14 years when he resigned in May 2003 after his indictment. Had he not, his removal would have been certain upon conviction. He was suspended from practice in 2005. At his criminal trial, Thompson's primary defense was that the traumatic effect of injuries suffered during combat service in Vietnam caused his pedophiliac tendencies, and the question for the court was whether he suffers from a mental disability that makes disbarment necessary to protect the public. Thompson was convicted of the crime of traveling interstate and engaging in foreign commerce with the intent of having sex with a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. 2251A. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity of child pornography possession charges.

A report produced at sentencing said that Bureau of Prisons mental health professionals had diagnosed Thompson as a pedophile and that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from injuries, including the loss of a leg and genital mutilation, sustained during his service in Vietnam, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart. In April 2006, U.S. District Judge Joseph Irenas sentenced Thompson to 10 years in prison, the minimum allowable under federal sentencing guidelines, and imposed a $25,000 fine. Prosecutors did not seek a higher sentence. At a Jan. 20 hearing, Office of Attorney Ethics deputy counsel Nitza Blasini urged the state Supreme Court to strip Thompson, 61, of his law license, calling his acts "vile and repugnant" and an abuse of his position of trust. Thompson's attorney, Leonard Baker, asked the court to adopt the DRB minority recommendation of an indeterminate suspension. "Regardless of the acts Mr. Thompson committed, they never affected his ability to practice law," said Baker, of Haddonfield's Mitnick, Josselson, DePersia & Baker. "There have been no complaints about his abilities, his honesty, his competence and his trustworthiness." Baker said Thompson "fell down off the job" but added, "I think that citizens, Americans, can have confidence in his ability to be an attorney if they know his tragic story. ... The American people believe in second chances for people who pay their debts to society." The court issued no formal opinion in the case, In the Matter of Stephen W. Thompson, D-22-08.