Legal News

In Light of Revelations About Judge, Lawyers Look to Challenge Rulings

By Ashby Jones

Question: If a judge is diagnosed with a brain disorder, to what degree should his recent decisions be revisited and possibly reconsidered?

The issue is arising down in Atlanta in regard to Jack Camp, the former federal judge recently sentenced to 30 days in jail for crimes committed while in a four-month relationship with a stripper. (Click here, here and here for earlier posts about the Camp situation.)

Before he was sentenced, Camp made what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called a “striking disclosure.” He revealed he has long suffered from a misdiagnosed bipolar disorder and brain damage from an bicycle accident he sustained in 2000.

The question now: how does the justice system deal with such a revelation?

"Every case he handled from the time he was misdiagnosed, or before, depending on when he was affected by these conditions, should be re-evaluated," said Marcia Shein, a Decatur appellate lawyer, to the AJC. "The question is: Did these conditions affect his ability to be an objective judge making fair decisions?"

This isn’t just an aggrieved defense lawyer making a desperate Hail Mary pass. U.S. Attorney Sally Yates told the paper that her office will consider requests from defendants concerning Camp's judgment "to ensure that justice is served."

Bill Morrison, one of Camp's lawyers, said the sentencing memos about Camp's mental health sought to explain his reckless conduct in that the brain damage compromised his impulse control.

But, he said, "Nothing impaired his ability to fairly and impartially act as a judge; I'm fully prepared to defend any judicial decision he made."

Yates had said she would not oppose requests for new hearings from defendants sentenced by Camp during the time he consumed marijuana, cocaine, Xanax and roxicontin. Of the 16 people sentenced by Camp during that period, five have asked for new hearings.

But what about decisions dating to 2000, when the brain injury happened?

Miles Quaytman, a psychiatrist who examined Camp, told the AJC that the ex-judge's medical problems did not impact his cognitive functioning.

But Shawn Agharkar, a psychiatrist who teaches at Morehouse and Emory medical schools, said the symptoms, theoretically at least, could have.

But, added Agharkar, "Just because a person has a bipolar disorder and brain damage, it doesn't automatically call into question every decision they've made," Agharkar said. "It has to be considered on a case-by-case basis."

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 23, 2011 (boomark / email).