Conference quokka::non_custodial_parents

305.0. "FWIW - In case you thought the judge couldn't be bought" by QUOKKA::56517::GRAY (Follow the hawk, and enjoy the view ...) Wed May 04 1994 08:22

[Forwards removed, re-printed without permission]

         COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A retired judge drew 1 1/2 years in prison
  for awarding a woman child support and custody of her child in
  exchange for sex.
         The woman's lawyer, who arranged the trysts, got a two-year
  sentence and a $1,500 fine from by Circuit Judge Thomas Cooper.
         Former Family Court Judge Sam Mendenhall, who retired in 1992,
  pleaded guilty Monday to misconduct. The lawyer, Samuel Fewell,
  pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Mendenhall, 54, and Fewell, 58, are
  former state legislators.
         Dorothy Carpenter said Mendenhall awarded her custody and child
  support in 1983 and 1984 in exchange for sex. Carpenter said she
  also had sex with Fewell in exchange for legal services but fired
  him in 1985 after he and the judge grew too demanding.
         Carpenter, who is facing unrelated arson charges, filed a
  complaint against Mendenhall and Fewell in 1991 with the state
  Supreme Court, which oversees the judicial system. She said her
  lawyer in the arson case urged her to file the complaint.
         Carpenter is charged with conspiracy in connection with a 1991
  fire in her Clover home that killed two people. The case is
  pending.
         Fewell's sentence will run concurrently with a 2 1/2-year federal
  sentence he received in March for cocaine possession and tax
  evasion.

    
    And is the woman going to be charged with bribing officials?
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Is the Mississippi going to dry up any time soon?
    
    The answer is that both ara about as likely.
    
    fred();

    All of the above sounds like, in the imortal words of Arlo Guthri (sp),
    a clinical case of blind justice. Or justice was served on bended knee
    and unzipped fly.:)