UPDATE on pillar of society caught playing with his "gavel"

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Judges have earned the right to be scrutinzed much more diligently.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A Tennessee judge was so addicted to prescription drugs during his final two years on the bench, he was having sex and buying pills during courtroom breaks, at times purchasing from convicts he had previously sentenced, an investigation found. His behavior has called into question many of the cases he presided over, including one of Knoxville's most notorious murders.

Many people didn't realize Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner had a problem until he stepped down from the bench and pleaded guilty in March 2011 to a single count of official misconduct. It would be another eight months before the seriousness of the judge's drug problem was revealed, casting uncertainty about whether Baumgartner was sober enough to be sitting on the bench.

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]JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) — A judge in Will County has been reassigned, after revelations that his computer was used multiple times in an effort to access porn sites.

Associate Judge Joseph Polito, 69, was moved from divorce court at the main county courthouse in Joliet, to a branch courtroom, Will County officials confirmed to CBS 2.

Acting Chief Judge Richard C. Schoenstedt decided to go ahead with the temporary reassignment for Polito after reading the Sun-Times article that detailed the tastes in porn of someone using the judge’s computer.

Among the 243 porn websites somebody using Polito’s county computer account attempted to access are chubbyparade.com, hugeheavybreasts.com, bigbras-club.com, portofdebauchery.com and teenagesextape.com.

Many of the websites have names that can’t be printed in a family newspaper. Several suggest an interest in masturbation and large breasted women. Others cover specialty interests including office sex and older women.

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Illinois judge charged with heroin, gun possession



ST. LOUIS — A southwestern Illinois judge already under scrutiny after a colleague died of a cocaine overdose at his family's hunting lodge was charged Friday with possession of heroin and guns.

Wearing cutoff shorts and a T-shirt with the slogan "Bad is my middle name," St. Clair County Circuit Judge Michael Cook pleaded not guilty to federal counts of possessing heroin and having a firearm while being an illegal user of controlled substances. The criminal complaint alleges those offenses took place Thursday, and that Cook is an addict.

Earlier Friday, the county coroner said toxicology tests showed that Cook's colleague, St. Clair County Circuit Judge Joe Christ, overdosed on cocaine while staying with Cook at the Cook family's 2,500-square-foot cabin near the Mississippi River in western Illinois.[/b]

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Disgraced ex-Mich. judge gets prison for fraud



ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Declaring herself "broken" and "disgraced," former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway tearfully took responsibility for fraud Tuesday before a judge sentenced her to a year and a day in prison for concealing assets while she was pleading with a bank for a sale on her underwater home.

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PITTSBURGH -- A former western Pennsylvania judge pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting women who appeared before him in court.

Seventy-year-old Ross Cioppa , a former district judge, plead guilty Thursday to two counts of indecent assault and two counts of official oppression, all misdemeanors. Common Pleas Judge Jill Rangos sentenced Cioppa to four years of probation, and six months of house arrest. Cioppa says he was guilty of hugging and fondling the women, but that a medication he was taking might have contributed to the behavior.


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