Editorial: Justice System Must Correct Itself After Debacle

Editorial: Justice system must correct itself after diversion debacle
The Knoxville News Sentinel  -  EDITORIAL  -  December 18, 2011

Outrage over the actions of disgraced former Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner have provoked a genuine but misplaced legislative remedy for the situation.  Two area legislators are proposing changes to a state anti-corruption law that prevents officeholders convicted of felonies from receiving retirement benefits. Defendants who qualify for diversion, as Baumgartner does, don't lose their pensions.  The effort is misplaced. The real target of the outrage should be the agreement that allowed Baumgartner to plead guilty to a single count of official misconduct and qualify for diversion, which allows him to keep his $58,800 annual pension.  Baumgartner, records show, became addicted to prescription drugs in 2007. Based on a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe, Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood determined Baumgartner, among other misdeeds, engaged in doctor shopping, bought pills from street dealers and had an affair with a woman who had been a defendant in his court. Baumgartner took so many pills that he was too compromised to sit on the bench, Blackwood ruled, and could not function as the "13th juror" in criminal trials as required by Tennessee law.  In March, Blackwood accepted the plea deal that could result in Baumgarter emerging from probation without a criminal record. He also would get to keep his pension.  State Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and state Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, want to close a loophole in state law so that felony defendants who are qualified to receive state pensions and who are allowed diversion must give up their retirement benefits.  That's not the way to handle such situations. Diversion, by definition, scrubs a conviction from a person's record. The justice system cannot allow someone who is not technically guilty of a crime to be punished. And even if the Legislature changes the law, it can't be applied retroactively to Baumgartner.  The problem lies in the liberal application of diversion, especially in cases of misconduct on the part of public officials. In the Baumgartner case, neither the judge, Blackwood nor Special Prosecutor Al Schmutzer seemed concerned about whether the punishment fit the crimes.  Schmutzer, who negotiated the deal with Baumgartner's counsel, professed surprise that Blackwood sentenced Baumgartner to two years on probation with the promise of wiping clean the record if the ex-judge made it through without running afoul of the law again. Yet Schmutzer, who had read the TBI investigative file in its entirety, said he didn't agree with diversion but did not vigorously oppose it during sentencing.  For his part, Blackwood did not review the TBI file, even though he had to know that it contained troubling information about Baumgartner's actions, before signing off on the agreement. Had he read the file, he would have had a hard time rationalizing diversion as justice being served.  Diversion is a tool that can be used to give a second chance to first-time offenders. Baumgartner's pattern of behavior and the sheer volume of his misdeeds should have disqualified him as a candidate for diversion.  As it stands, Baumgartner is getting away with a slap on the wrist. Schmutzer could have negotiated a tougher deal or at the very least insisted that Blackwood not consider diversion as a viable alternative. Blackwood could have delved more into Baumgartner's criminal acts before passing judgment.  The problems Baumgartner wrought cannot be fixed in Nashville. The solution lies in the consciences of those whose duty it is to administer justice in Knox County.