Insane Judges

I was reading up on judge Roy Bean, the legendary "Law West of the Pecos" the other other day, and came to the conclusion that old Roy was a crazy and manipulative opportunist. This inspired me to compile a short list of judges from recent history that have gained attention for being nuts. These are just bits and pieces of insanity, but you can get a more comprehensive look at who people think the WORST judges are over to RobeProbe, where they keep a public ratings database of the judiciary (kind of interesting, though saturated with bitter opinions).

Elizabeth Halverson
Jabba the Nut

Although we have come to know Las Vegas as a shining beacon of civility and government propriety, that image was tarnished this past weekend when it became known that District Court Judge Elizabeth Halverson has been engaging in some rather bizarre and illegal behavior. Halverson, an elected official of the state of Nevada, was banned from the county courthouse in 2007 after two of her personal bodyguards were allowed to bypass security checks when entering the courthouse and given access to secure areas without first being cleared by law enforcement or having background checks. Although security is provided by the courthouse, Halverson has employeed a small contingent of bodyguards since her bailiff was reassigned in April of last year (after complaining about her behavior).

Image Via AP

However, this is only the tip of a fat, sweaty, wheezing iceberg. According to her employees, Halverson has become paranoid over the past year and has engaged in some rather disturbing practices and bizarre behavior. She has read employees personal emails, fired people seemingly on a whim, hired a technician to hack into the courthouse computer system, tainted juries by advising and suggesting decisions outside of court, demanded strict obedience from employees, and been generally negligent. She has fallen asleep numerous times in court, requires a motorized scooter to get around, and (allegedly) insists upon receiving massages from employees.

Best part from the AP story:

Halverson did not respond to an interview request. A shirtless man who answered the door at her home pointed to a "no trespassing" sign and ordered a reporter off the property. The yard is clean these days, after the city cited Halverson for leaving it strewn with junk and letting the water in her pool grow murky and stagnant.

Roy Pearson
The Law Suit Lawsuit


DC Judge Roy Pearson paid his dry cleaners, the Chung family, 10.50 to have his suit cleaned and pressed for court in May 2005. However, when Pearson asked for the suit 2 days after bringing it in he was informed that the pants had been lost and the staff was not able to locate them. Furious at this development, Roy demanded that he be fully reimbursed for the suit, which was valued at $1000. The Chungs claim to have found his pants a week later, but Pearson insisted that the pants were not his and provided photographic evidence to support this assertion. The Chungs soon made an offer to settle the dispute for $12,000 , but this was quickly rejected by the fuming judge. Instead, the honorable Mr. Pearson filed a lawsuit which accused the Chung's of false advertising that had caused discomfort and emotional distress. Claiming that the outcome of the debacle meant that he would have to rent a car every weekend to visit another dry cleaner's and that the advertisement of "satisfaction guaranteed" constituted business fraud, he did the reasonable thing and demanded $65 million in damages. The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea who are not particularly wealthy, were shocked by this and uncertain of how to pay for their defense. A website was created to help with their legal defense and proved a success after publicity earned them massive support from local and national news watchers. After some legal wrangling, the case was finally thrown out in June 2007 and a panel recommended that Judge Pearson not be given a 10 year term as Administrative Law Judge, effectively firing him. The Chung's recovered their legal costs through the fund raising instead of a counter-suit, in the hopes that it would persuade Pearson to stop litigation. The pants have not been recovered.


Larry Seidlin
The Crybaby Judge

Larry the cable judge (wiki one liners) was pretty much an unknown until he sat on the bench for the Anna Nicole Smith custody trial last year. He gained notoriety for making oddly timed one-liners, giving lawyers in the case nicknames like "Texas" and "California", interrupting attorney statements to point out bad grammar, making speeches about troops overseas, and generally engaging in some pretty lame dramatics. According to his peers and people close to him, this type of folksy behavior was not unusual for the former Bronx, N.Y. cab-driver. However, casual spectators began to suspect that Larry was using the spotlight this case gave him to audition for his own reality judge show. Although judicial analysts seem to agree that this kind of behavior is not unusual, Larry's whiny and tearful statements near the end of the case and his retirement soon after did not help this perception.



Honorable Mention - James Michael Shull

So, some people were upset with Jimmy for for making a woman take her pants off in court and using a coin flip to determine the outcome of a custody proceeding, but after reviewing the facts I don't think he was crazy. It seems that on the first point, a woman was possibly cutting herself and then claiming that her husband attacked her with a knife, so I would list this under stupid as opposed to crazy. As for the second incident, I think Judge Schull was trying to pull some type of misguided king Solomon routine and grossly miscalculated. Certainly not the sharpest tack in the box, but at least he isn't batshit crazy.


Note: This list was longer, but I decided to split the list into "insane" "stupid" and "misogynist". I'll complete the other two sometime in the future.