U.S. District Court Jack T. Camp
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March 2011

GEORGIA  

Lawyers ask for review of ex-judge Camp's rulings, sentences

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

03-23-11 -- Before he was sentenced for crimes he committed with a stripper, Jack Camp made a striking disclosure: The former federal judge revealed he has long suffered from a misdiagnosed bipolar disorder and brain damage from an accident more than a decade earlier. . . . The revelations have lawyers wondering whether justice was meted out by an impaired jurist. . . . “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. “The question is: Did these conditions affect his ability to be an objective judge making fair decisions?” . . . U.S. Attorney Sally Yates told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that her office will consider requests from defendants concerning Camp’s judgment “to ensure that justice is served.”

Ex-judge Camp sentenced to 30 days in prison

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

03-11-11 -- Jack Camp, the former federal judge ensnared in a scandal involving drugs and a stripper, was sentenced Friday to 30 days in prison and 400 hours of community service. . . . Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said he could not give a sentence of only probation because Camp had breached his oath of office. . . . "He has disgraced his office," Hogan said. "He has denigrated the federal judiciary. He has encouraged disrespect for the rule of law." . . . Before being sentenced, Camp apologized for what he had done and thanked his family and friends, many of whom filled the courtroom. . . . "I have embarrassed and humiliated my family as well as myself," Camp said. "I have embarrassed the court I have served on and I am deeply sorry for that. When I look back at the circumstances which brought me here and look at what I did, it makes me sick." . . . Camp said that at the end of the day, "the only thing I can say is that I'm so very sorry."

Feds: Ex-judge should go to prison for drug crimes

By Greg Bluestein, The Associated Press, Washington Post 

03-05-11 -- Federal prosecutors say a former federal judge who pleaded guilty to two drug-related charges involving a stripper should serve at least 15 days in prison. . . . Prosecutors asked for the punishment for former veteran judge Jack Camp. They said in court documents Friday that prison time will reflect the seriousness of the offense.

GEORGIA  

Disbarred Attorney Who Got Maximum Sentence Wants the Same for Embattled Judge

By R. Robin McDonald | Law.com

03-07-11 -- A disbarred attorney who received the maximum sentence from former U.S. District Senior Judge Jack Camp in 1998 is now weighing in on the judge's upcoming sentence. . . . Alvin Kendall, who served five years in prison after a federal jury in Atlanta convicted him of conspiring to tip a suspect to a federal search and conspiring to distribute narcotics, filed a response Thursday afternoon in federal court in Atlanta to Camp's sentencing memorandum. . . . Kendall said that he had sought a sentence of less than six months in 1998, explaining to Camp at the time that he was a single parent with two small children and had to care for an elderly parent who had suffered a stroke and was wheelchair-bound. Rather than show leniency, Kendall said Camp enhanced his sentence, levying the maximum time of five years. Kendall suggested Camp was undeserving of any special consideration in his own case.

February 2011

Former Ga. judges lose law licenses

By Jessica M. Karmasek, Legal Newsline

02-28-11 -- The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday accepted former U.S. District Judge Jack Camp's voluntary surrender of his law license and disbarred former Alapaha Circuit Superior Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III. . . . Camp, who has been a member of the Georgia Bar since 1975, admitted that in November he pled guilty to aiding and abetting a felon's posssession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, and embezzlement/theft of public property, according to the Court's two-page order. . . . According to The Associated Press, Camp aided and abetted a felon's possession of cocaine when he bought drugs for a stripper. He also illegally gave the stripper his government-issued laptop. . . . The aiding and abetting offense is a felony violation of United States Code, while the remaining offenses are misdemeanor violations.

Judge says depression, accident led to cocaine, stripper troubles

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  

02-26-11 -- A decades-long battle with depression and brain damage from a bicycling accident led ex-judge Jack Camp to make the self-destructive choices of using drugs and striking up an affair with a stripper, court filings say. . . . Camp, 67, of Newnan resigned in disgrace from the U.S. District Court bench in November when he pleaded guilty to federal charges. This included one felony -- giving the stripper, who he knew was a convicted felon, money to buy drugs. He is to be sentenced March 11. . . . In court filings Friday, Camp's lawyers asked Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan of Washington, who was assigned to the case because all Atlanta judges recused themselves, to impose a sentence of probation, a fine and community service. If Hogan thinks more severe punishment is necessary, the lawyers asked him to consider a period of home confinement.

December 2010

Disgraced fed judge's decisions scrutinized

Associated Press, WRCB-TV

12-23-10 -- Defense attorneys are filing the first round of court filings challenging recent cases handled by a disgraced federal judge who pleaded guilty to charges that he bought drugs for a stripper. . . . Some defense attorneys were already working on challenges when Senior Judge Jack Camp stepped down from the bench in November and pleaded guilty to a felony drug charge and two misdemeanors.

November 2010

A Lap Dance Goes Too Far: Judge Faces Charges After Affair With Stripper

By: Madison Gray, TIME

11-22-10 -- When they say "no sex in the Champagne Room," they mean it. . . . A Georgia federal judge has pleaded guilty to federal charges after being arrested for allegedly buying cocaine and other drugs from an exotic dancer with whom he was involved over the past several months, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. . . . Jack T. Camp Jr., a senior U.S. District judge, was arrested in October near Sandy Springs, Ga. and accused of purchasing cocaine, marijuana, and prescription medicine from a stripper he met at the Goldrush Showbar in Atlanta, according to the FBI. As a condition of his plea deal, he has resigned his position on the bench. . . . Their relationship began when he visited the club and got a private dance from her. He came back the next night for another dance, plus sex, which evolved into a drug and sex-laced tryst. A federal affidavit says the judge sometimes purchased the dope from her and at other times went with the dancer as a pair to buy from other parties.

Federal judge pleads guilty to drug charge

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   

11-19-10 -- Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Camp, whose arrest on charges of buying drugs and his relationship with a stripper shocked the state's legal community, pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges. . . . He resigned his position Friday morning, a condition of the plea deal. . . . Camp pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a felon's possession of cocaine, a painkiller and marijuana, a felony. He also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors -- possession of illegal drugs and giving his government-issued laptop to the stripper. . . . Camp must serve at least 15 days in custody. Federal sentencing guidelines call for four to 10 months in prison. Camp will be sentenced March 4. . . . Camp, 67, entered his plea in Atlanta before Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan, a judge from Washington assigned the case. On Thursday, Hogan disclosed Camp's decision to enter a guilty plea in an entry on the court's online docket sheet. . . . After Hogan recited the sordid details of Camp's relationship with the stripper, he asked Camp if the details were true.

October 2010

Judge Camp decision challenged in vegan case

Appeal rests on contention the judge was using drugs

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   

10-20-10 -- Lawyers for vegans who won $4 in damages against former DeKalb County police officers are appealing their denial of attorneys fee and noting their judge was allegedly using drugs when he issued the denial. . . . In a two-page order issued in July, Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Camp denied the vegans’ request for $199,955 in legal fees and $4,239 in expenses. Camp said the lawyers performed admirably, but said he could not award fees when the plaintiffs recovered only nominal damages.

Prosecutors: Disclosure in Camp case could pose safety threat

By Alex McRae, The Times-Herald

10-19-10 -- Federal prosecutors pursuing drug and firearms charges against Senior Judge Jack Camp -- a Coweta resident -- filed a motion last week requesting any discovery filed in Camp's case be used solely by Camp's defense attorneys. . . . The motion said public disclosure of certain information "could pose a threat to the safety of certain individuals." It also said public disclosure could lead to the destruction of evidence and compromise the investigation. . . . Camp, 67, was arrested Oct. 1, minutes after he allegedly paid an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent $160 for cocaine and a narcotic pain medication.

Lawyers React With Shock and Disbelief to Federal Judge's Drug Arrest

In months leading up to Judge Jack T. Camp's arrest, lawyers say they saw model jurist -- tough, fair, no signs of drug use

Janet L. Conley, Fulton County Daily Report

10-11-10 -- In the days before he was arrested in the parking lot of a hip hop club on charges that he tried to buy cocaine, Judge Jack T. Camp was in his courtroom presiding over the trial of a trucker accused of trying to sell marijuana. ****In short, until he was arrested at approximately 7:45 p.m. on Oct. 1, Camp appeared to be conducting his life as a jurist in a business-as-usual manner. The trucker's lawyers could not be reached for comment, and the federal prosecutor in that case declined to comment. . . . Other attorneys who know Camp, including a former law clerk who views him as a friend and mentor, and lawyers who appeared before him in the weeks prior to the FBI sting say they never saw this coming. . . . "I'm shocked," said Brian C. McCarthy, a solo practitioner who on Aug. 24 spent two hours with Camp in a pretrial conference over an insurance dispute. . . . "His performance on the bench was indicative of what I'd heard from other lawyers. ... He's tough, and he's stern, but he's completely fair," said McCarthy. "There was absolutely nothing, thinking back on it, that would lead me to believe in any way, shape or form that anything was odd with him, or [that he was] under the influence. . . . "If he had been up there red-eyed and fidgety," McCarthy said, he would not have been as floored when he heard about the FBI sting. . . . Among other things, Camp faces three felony charges -- the illegal use of controlled substances while in possession of a firearm, aiding and abetting and attempting to aid and abet the possession of cocaine and Roxicodone by a previously convicted drug felon. He has not entered a plea.

Stripper in federal judge scandal ID'd

By Steve Visser and Bill Torpy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

10-07-10 -- The stripper who allegedly had an affair and consumed drugs with a federal judge was convicted five years ago on felony charges in connection with a methamphetamine ring, The Smoking Gun reported Wednesday. . . . The website identified the woman as Sherry Ann Ramos, a 26-year-old woman who spent three years in prison following a 2005 conviction. An affidavit filed Monday in the arrest of senior U.S. District Judge Jack Camp Jr. referred only to the woman as confidential informant CI-1. . . . Aubrey Villines, the lawyer for the Goldrush Showbar, where Camp allegedly met the dancer, said Ramos had not danced at the club for five months. He expressed concern federal investigators permitted their informant to commit illegal acts at the club and could put the club’s license at risk.

Judge's hometown, legal community stunned by arrest

By Tammy Joyner and Steve Visser, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

10-06-10 -- ********* The Southern-style siesta suits the 400 or so residents of this south Coweta County community just fine, and they guard their tongue and their residents closely. Few would talk publicly about the latest scandal in town. . . . But the arrest of Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr., scion of a prominent and influential Coweta County family, is the buzz of local talk radio and legal circles. . . . The 67-year-old judge was arrested last week on federal charges that he bought cocaine and other illegal drugs while involved in a sexual relationship for the past several months with an exotic dancer. Camp is out on $50,000 personal recognizance bond. . . . Buddy Parker, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said he was dumbfounded by the arrest and couldn’t believe a sitting federal judge would engage in such risky behavior, especially with his knowledge of federal undercover cases and stings and their use of informants. . . . Parker said the arrest has rocked metro Atlanta’s legal community, and he thought it could reopen some cases that were tried under Camp. . . . “You know this has gone through the Bureau of Prisons like wildfire,” Parker said. . . . If so, the reaction in Moreland was much more restrained. . . . For those who know Camp, a history buff with a penchant for suspenders, bow ties and seersucker suits, and his family, it is a stunning blow.

Courts Deal With Fallout of Judge's Arrest on Drug and Gun Charges

Chief justice taps temporary judge to oversee case against Judge Jack T. Camp

R. Robin McDonald, Fulton County Daily Report

10-06-10 -- Judges and attorneys in Georgia, Washington and Alabama spent Tuesday coping with the fallout from the arrest last weekend of U.S. District Senior Judge Jack T. Camp on federal drug and gun charges. . . . Judges, including the chief justice of the United States, sought to find someone to oversee the criminal case against Camp and determine how to reassign his caseload. . . . Meanwhile, attorneys experienced in defending federal drug cases noted that the crimes with which Camp is charged would likely have been handled by local prosecutors, if they were prosecuted at all, had Camp not been a federal judge. . . . For his part, Camp has agreed to allow the District Court in Atlanta to reassign all of his pending civil and criminal cases to another judge, Camp's lead counsel, Atlanta attorney William A. Morrison, said Tuesday. . . . Morrison said that Camp will step down from the bench in what Morrison said was "analogous to a leave of absence" with pay. . . . "Even though he doesn't have a caseload, until he either resigns or is impeached, he is still a judge and still entitled to be paid," Morrison said, adding that, at this point, Camp's leave is for an indefinite period. . . . Morrison said that a visiting judge from Baltimore -- U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz of the District of Maryland -- has been named temporarily by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. to preside over the pending case against Camp. . . . The entire Northern District bench has recused, and Camp made his first appearance in court Monday before a visiting U.S. magistrate judge from the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery.

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Alleged Liaisons With Stripper Lead to Judge's Arrest on Drug, Gun Charges

FBI: Senior judge was implicated by stripper who recorded their conversations

R. Robin McDonald and Janet L. Conley, Fulton County Daily Report

10-05-10 -- An FBI undercover investigation that began last spring led Friday night to the arrest of a federal senior judge on federal drug and gun charges stemming from an alleged series of liaisons with an exotic dancer with a felony record, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Monday. . . . U.S. District Senior Judge Jack T. Camp may be the first sitting judge in Georgia's Northern District to be arrested by FBI agents, said Camp's lead counsel, Atlanta defense attorney William A. Morrison. His comments came after Camp's first appearance on Monday before a federal magistrate judge, who was brought in from Alabama after jurists in the Atlanta federal court recused. . . . "We're in uncharted waters," said Morrison. . . . Camp was freed on a $50,000 unsecured bond Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody from the Middle District of Alabama.

Federal judge charged with buying drugs from stripper

By Steve Visser, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

10-04-10 -- A federal judge was granted a $50,000 bond Monday on charges that he purchased drugs on several occasions from an Atlanta club stripper with whom he was having a sexual relationship. . . . Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr. was arrested Friday night near Sandy Springs and held in an undisclosed location by the U.S. Marshal Service. . . . The 67-year-old Camp is accused of purchasing and using cocaine, marijuana, Hydrocodone and Roxycodrone since last spring and using them with an exotic dancer he met at the Goldrush Showbar on Metropolitan Avenure, according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Mary Jo Mangrum, a member of a task force investigating public corruption. . . . Camp met the dancer, an FBI informant identified in the affidavit as CI-1, after he purchased a private dance from her, according to the affidavit.  He returned the next night and purchased another dance and  sex from her, the affidavit said.

Federal Judge Arrested in Drug Case

Posted By -  Kevin Rowson & Ben Mayer, WXIA-TV

10-04-10 -- Federal Judge Jack Camp has been arrested as part of a Federal drug case. . . . The U.S. Marshals report he is in jail awaiting drug and gun charges. Camp is a senior judge for the Northern District of Georgia and has presided over numerous high profile cases, including cases related to the Sidney Dorsey trials and Larry Lonchar. . . . According to officials, in Spring 2010 Judge Camp propositioned a confidential informant who was working as a private dancer at the Gold Rush show bar on Metropolitan Parkway. Officials say, the confidential informant offered him a private dance in the VIP. Camp bought one, officials say. . . . Officials say, Judge Camp returned following day to purchase another dance, only this time, he allegedly paid the informant in exchange for sex as well. That night, Judge Camp asked the informant what kind of drugs she was taking. She told him cocaine. He asked if she had any more. According to reports, she did.