Former Ala. inmate: Judge sexually abused him

MOBILE, Ala. - An Alabama man with a lengthy criminal record testified Tuesday that a judge who helped secure his release from jail as a teenager later spanked him with a belt and had sexual contact with him.

"I didn't have a choice. He was the judge," the man said. The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes.

The witness was one of three former inmates who testified against former Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas on Tuesday. Prosecutors expect to present 14 present and former inmates in Thomas' trial on charges of kidnapping, sodomy, extortion and sexual abuse. He is accused of paddling and having sexual contact with some male inmates in return for leniency.

One witness, now 28, said Thomas promised to help him with a murder case if he would masturbate in front of the judge.

"I closed my eyes and began," he testified.

A forensic expert said evidence collected from the judge's office backed up the witness's testimony. But defense lawyers pointed out that the man originally told FBI agents the event hadn't occurred. The man said he lied because he was embarrassed by what had happened.

The man pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and got a 10-year sentence.

Another former inmate said Thomas helped him get probation on an assault conviction before another judge, but told him that he would get a spanking for the help with the sentence. The man, now 23, said the judge ended up spanking his bare behind three times with a belt and fraternity paddle.

During one paddling, "he rubbed my butt a couple of times," the man testified.

Thomas, 48, once a prominent judicial figure in Mobile, spent 17 years as a judge before resigning in 2007 ahead of a judicial ethics trial involving inmate paddlings.

The first witness, now 26, described how he was arrested at 18 on a lengthy list of charges, including burglary and other property crimes. He was expecting to get a long sentence from another judge until a fellow jail prisoner gave him advice about how to seek leniency.

"He told me I could write to Judge Thomas and he would probably get my case and I would probably get probation. That's what I did," the witness said.

He said Thomas got his letter and visited him in the Mobile jail in 2002, eventually arranging for him to get out without posting any monetary bond and driving him to Thomas' courthouse office about 5:30 p.m. following his release.

"He took off his belt. He told me to pull my pants down," the man said.

He said Thomas then had him pull down his boxers and bend over a chair, with the judge striking him six or seven times "full force." The man said it hurt so badly he started crying.

Then he felt something touch his rear "like a hand or something," he testified. The witness said when he turned around, the judge was exposed and aroused.

The man said Thomas arranged for him to plead guilty to a burglary charge and fraudulent use of a credit card and gave him five years' probation. He said Thomas kept watch over his case and whipped him again later for ignoring the judge's directions to get a haircut, but nothing sexual occurred that time.

The man's mother testified her son told her about the first whipping and showed her the welts on his behind, but she said she supported the judge at the time for trying to straighten out her son.

She said her son never told her about anything other than the spankings.

Thomas' attorney, Robert "Cowboy Bob" Clark, questioned the inmate's credibility, pointing out that he later served three years in federal prison for counterfeiting and is now awaiting trial on more charges, including credit card fraud and possession of a forged instrument. Clark also got the man to admit that during one arrest he lied to police about his name.

"Do you lie very often?" Clark asked.

"No sir," the man replied.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson said Thomas' contact was unusual because state judicial rules don't permit a judge to meet privately with a defendant without attorneys.

A longtime jail supervisor, Lt. Nina Gordon, testified that Thomas was the only judge she ever saw take an inmate out of the jail.