Lawyers rally for judge after 'unfair criticism'

by Manju Subramanya
Staff Writer

Eight women defend Thompson from
sexual bias charges

About a dozen lawyers -- including eight women -- turned out last week to publicly defend beleaguered Judge Durke G. Thompson, upstaging a news conference called by a women's group to chastise him.

Glenn M. Cooper, president of the Montgomery County Bar Association, was among those supporting the judge on March 13. He told reporters in the lobby of the Judicial Center in Rockville that the association normally stays out of such controversies.

"We will become involved when there is unfair criticism of a judge," Cooper said. "The frenzy being created is entirely inappropriate."

The furor is over a March 1 decision by Thompson overturning a rape verdict. Detractors are calling for his removal from Montgomery County Circuit Court; supporters say the criticism is driven by politics.

"This is an election year," said Audrey Creighton, an assistant public defender and one of eight women lawyers who came to support Thompson. "There are certain politicians in Montgomery County who are attacking Judge Thompson for self-seeking reasons."

State's Attorney Douglas F. Gansler (D) descended from his fifth-floor office to the lobby to dispute that allegation before a bank of television cameras.

"This group of lawyers decided that by attacking me, they could effectively divert attention from a very serious allegation regarding Judge Thompson," Gansler said. "I have nothing to do with this."

Gansler added fuel to the controversy on the day of the ruling by issuing a news release attacking Thompson's decision.

Gansler protested that he has no opponent in the November elections. "If there were, I don't believe it would be Thompson."

Thompson, 59, is not up for election this year. His 15-year term expires in 2011.

"This has nothing to do with Doug Gansler getting re-elected," said Duchy Trachtenberg, president of the Montgomery chapter of the National Organization of Women and a County Council candidate, when she got a chance to begin her news conference. "We are here joined together against a judge biased against women."

NOW and the Women's Legislative Caucus, a coalition of 58 female legislators, expressed outrage at Thompson's action in granting a new trial to Robert Thornett Jr., 35, a North Bethesda man convicted in November 2001 of assaulting and raping his live-in girlfriend. The judge said new evidence that came to light after the verdict cast doubt on the victim's credibility and lent weight to the defense theory that she may have retaliated against Thornett for refusing to marry her.

Thompson's ruling revived the brouhaha over his infamous "it takes two to tango" comment two years ago about an 11-year-old sexual assault victim from Rockville.

NOW and the women's caucus filed separate complaints against Thompson earlier this month with the state Judicial Disabilities Commission, seeking his removal from the bench.

Both groups also filed complaints after his "tango" comment. After reviewing more than 200 of Thompson's cases, the commission chastised the judge for his language but declined to censure him.

At her news conference, Trachtenberg introduced several women, including two who she said had suffered from Thompson's anti-women bias.

One was Rachel Fisher, 19, who told reporters that she suffered an injustice when Robert H. James of Olney, who was convicted in 1999 of raping her, was given a new trial in April 2000.

Thompson's supporters were quick to point out that the judge had recused himself from the James case before another judge granted a new trial.

That case ended with prosecutors seeking a plea bargain; James was found guilty of lesser offenses and placed on 18 months probation in November 2000, according to court records. Prosecutors declined a retrial, Gansler said, because they did not want to put Fisher through the ordeal of testifying again.

A second woman, Joan Davis, told reporters that her ex-husband, Gregory Slatniske, burned down her Gaithersburg home. She accused Thompson of blaming her for "pushing his [Slatniske's] buttons," a complaint she had made during the "tango" uproar. Thompson sentenced Slatniske in December 1999 to serve 54 days in jail and five years probation, according to court papers.

Thompson himself was silent. Circuit Court Administrative Judge Paul H. Weinstein -- responding to media inquiries seeking comment -- issued a statement saying that judges are restrained by judicial ethics from talking to reporters.