Judge Blames Corrruption on Lesbian Wife

Lesbian Wife Blamed For Judge's Corruption
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

August 28, 2006 - 12:01 am ET

(Knoxville, Tennessee) A Roane County judge facing a lengthy prison term for
corruption is pleading for mercy and blaming his plight on stress after
learning his wife had been having a lesbian affair.

Thomas Alva Austin will be sentenced next month. The appeal for clemency came
in a filing by his lawyer last week to the court.

Austin pleaded guilty to using his position to force kickbacks from driving
school instructors and a probation office chief. It is estimated Austin
pocketed tens of thousands of dollars. The case came to light after one man
being shaken down by Austin went to the FBI.

But Austin's attorney, Gregory P. Isaacs, in seeking a reduced sentence argues
the judge had a breakdown.

"In early 2005, while Mr. Austin and his second wife were in marital
counseling, she admitted her year-long involvement in an extramarital lesbian
relationship," Isaacs wrote in his court filing.

"Mr. Austin was quite distraught, sought medical help for depression and was
prescribed anti-depressants. Additionally, he began drinking heavily despite
earlier struggles with alcohol. All of the charges that are included in this
indictment occurred after this difficult and tumultuous period in Mr. Austin's
personal life."

Austin is facing 37 to 46 months but Isaacs is recommending probation or a
reduced sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley is having none of it. In his filing
to the court Atchley is calling for the maximum.

"He is corrupt to his core," Atchley wrote in his brief of Austin.

"This case represents an almost incomprehensible breach of the public trust,"
Atchley wrote in the brief.

After one victim went to the FBI investigators put a recording device on him
and encouraged him to set up a meeting with Austin. The FBI also secretly
video taped the judge over several months.

The videos show Austin accepting cash from the man. On the tape Austin boasts
about his kickback scheme and then comments on a separate investigation
involving sexual harassment.

"I've pulled every fucking thing in the book," he was recorded saying. "I've
granted girls divorces in the morning and fucked them that afternoon."

©365Gay.com 2006




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