Not the kind of pump the judge used.

John and his contributing editors have been discussing going over all of the posts during the past year and finding the best, or at least most interesting. Until we come up with our lists, here ‘s a story not covered on these pages, but was my favorite. It’s comforting knowing at least one elected officials who got busted did so for something other than corruption. Yes, his bench press muscle building took place two years earlier, but 2005 was his time in court.

“Pump” Judge Gets Popped – January 21, 2005

The Oklahoma judge who was forced from the bench last year for using a penis pump in court (among other really gross acts) was charged yesterday with indecent exposure for his judicial indiscretions. Donald Thompson, 58, entered a not guilty plea yesterday to three felony counts during an appearance in Creek County District Court, where he worked until resigning last August. According to the yucky probable cause affidavit, Thompson exposed himself during three separate 2003 cases (two of which were murder trials). For example, on May 13, while he was presiding over State v. Kurt Arnold Vomberg (who was accused of killing his girlfriend’s 21-month-old daughter), Thompson loudly pumped himself up. Two court employees told investigators that they saw Thompson attach the suction device to his penis, while five jurors reported hearing whooshing sounds, which they thought were coming from either a bicycle pump, blood pressure cuff, or an air cushion on the judge’s chair.

The latest news is from just a few weeks ago.

The trial of an Oklahoma judge, charged with three counts of indecent exposure while allegedly using a “penis pump” under his judicial robes while adjudicating two murder trials and a civil trial in 2003, has won yet another delay in his trial when a special judge recused himself.