Legal Juice
It would appear that Maryland District Court Judge Bruce S. Lamdin had a lot of bad days. The excerpts below are from the opinion released yesterday by the Court of Appeals of Maryland. As stated in the opinion, “… Judge Lamdin expressly admitted that he made each of the comments attributed to him and that those comments violated specific Canons of the Maryland Code of Judicial Conduct…”
As to State v. Crook, #C 00239557, Judge Lamdin, in a case in which defendant entered a guilty plea to possession of paraphernalia and driving without a license, admitted that he made the following comments during the case:
‘Why did you drive so poorly? Smoke a little weed before you got behind the wheel? . . . Smoke a little crack before you got behind the wheel? . . . Well, you’ve got the appropriate last name. . . . All right crack head, Crook. . . . You’ve got your money all tied up in the next shipment that’s coming in? Never mind. . . . My comment was, do you have all your money tied up in product?’
Alrighty. Here’s another.
As to State v. McClaughlin, #C 00240823, Judge Lamdin admitted, upon being informed by the Assistant State’s Attorney that the defendant had been asked to remain in the hallway with her baby until her case was called, that he stated:
‘Well, you know, I got in trouble because I told some lady we confiscate cell phones and we put the cell phones in plastic bags and send them down to Annapolis. I suggested maybe we ought to do the same thing with children except poke holes in the bag. She filed a complaint against me for that so that’s why they keep all of the children out of my courtroom now. . . We ordered some plastic bags about five foot tall but they haven’t been — they haven’t come in yet.’
More about kids …
As to the complaint filed by Ronald Jacobson, Judge Lamdin admitted that during the course of his opening remarks for the afternoon docket, he made the following comment to the audience regarding a woman leaving the courtroom with her baby who was crying:
‘If she only knew how much I hate kids, she would not have brought that kid in here today.’
There’s plenty more. Keep reading.
As to State v. Owens, #DG 10900, Judge Lamdin admitted that he asked the defendant, Hunter Coleman Owens, from Pennsylvania:
‘What’s the big rush to get back to Pennsylvania? It’s an ugly state.’
Ugly? Naw. I think it’s downright purty. Here’s another:
As to State v. Marsalak, #DG 16922, Judge Lamdin admitted that, during the course of the case in which defendant entered a not guilty agreed statement of facts to driving while suspended, he asked the defendant:
‘Would you like some cheese with that whine because I’ve heard about all that I wish to hear.’
Ha ha ha. Here’s a little show of sympathy…
As to State v. Jones, #C 00241933, Judge Lamdin, in a case in which defendant entered a not guilty agreed statement of facts to driving while suspended, admitted that he made the following comments during the case:
‘Well Mr. Jones, the hits keep coming. I mean, if there is a pile of shit there you’ll step in it . . . Because when you sleep with dogs you generally wake up with fleas and you’ve been scratching the better part of your life. . . . Date du jour — Going by the bowling alley to pick her up. She’s messed up on drugs and I’m sure you were probably contributing to that. . . . You gave her money to go cop whatever she’s hooked on . . . So he’s just a huge burden to everyone. . . . So am I doing the tax-payers justice by locking this stupid ass up for additional time or am I just punishing the taxpayers? But is he one of the biggest dumb asses I’ve ever seen? Absolutely. . . . My guess is, released he will surely step in the next pile of shit with another week or two . . . give you an opportunity to find your big pile and step in it again. . . . I could give some time to get money together to pay a fine, but then I’d punish your children and they are already punished enough by having you for a father. . . . They’re dealing with the bottom of the deck right now. . . . Get your head out of where it has been inserted for the last number of years.’
More on where the head has been inserted …
As to State v. Jennings, #DF 98262, Judge Lamdin admitted that, angry with the defendant’s attitude, he sent the defendant to lockup and when the case was recalled later in the day, Judge Lamdin asked the defendant’s attorney:
‘Did he get his head out of where he had it inserted earlier today, Mr. Chase?’
Mercy! And on the subject of mercy …
As to State v. Nunyez, #DG 10669, Judge Lamdin admitted that during the hearing he responded to the defendant’s request for mercy by stating:
‘I don’t have any mercy. You haven’t heard about me? I am a merciless SOB. You haven’t heard that? I thought everybody knew that.’
Here’s one more.
As to State v. Kalp, #C 00239407, Judge Lamdin admitted that he stated the following to the Defendant during
sentencing:
‘Now come on James, let’s be honest with each other. These problems have existed for you for now — now for 14 years. You must be the slowest study known to man. If you haven’t been able to figure out with all of your alcohol related offenses and now your drug arrest that you need to do something to help yourself, come on. Do you think I just came in on the watermelon truck today? . . . At Division of Correction they’ll spank him and probably release him in four months. Down there he can get all the drugs he wants probably.’
What was the punishment? Judge Lamdin was suspended, without pay, for 30 consecutive work days. You can read the entire opinion here.