The man in the black robe is seen by all as
a symbol of impartiality, of fairness, and of justice. Except when he’s not. Here are ten judges who were so corrupt, they
shocked the world. #10. Paschal English For anyone who appeared in front of Judge
Paschal English during his long judicial career, they knew they were in front of someone who
didn’t abide by any nonsense. The Atlanta judge, a former Air Force Colonel,
had a reputation as a stern figure who presided over countless criminal cases including armed
robbery and assault. He was typically strict when dealing with
defendants, but not unfairly so. Not many people outside the area knew about
the Superior Court judge - until he appeared on the fourth season of the reality show Survivor,
where he won over America with his honest gameplay and his close friendship with a much
younger contestant. When he ultimately was eliminated at the final
four due to a random-draw tiebreaker when he wouldn’t write his alliance mate’s
name down, everyone watching knew - that’s an honorable guy and the Atlanta justice system
is lucky to have him. But don’t believe everything you see on
TV, folks. Judge English went back to his work as a judge
after the show and was happily married with two grown daughters. He faded from the news - until six years later,
when he abruptly resigned from the court after a scandal involving a fellow judge who had
been sexually harassing women in his office. While English wasn’t directly implicated,
reports were that he had failed to take action while Judge Johnny Caldwell harassed a female
attorney. That was enough to put a major blot on Judge
English’s distinguished career, and he left the bench in disgrace - but it was just the
beginning. The scandal led journalists to look into his
history, and they found a string of affairs with other women that he had successfully
hidden. More shockingly, he had even been caught having
sex with a woman in a parked car by a police officer, and was able to keep it quiet thanks
to his connections. But that wasn’t the most shocking thing
about the bad judge’s midnight appointments. The woman who Judge English had sex with in
that car? She was a public defender who had tried over
two hundred cases in his courtroom! Many of those cases involved serious crimes,
and no one could be sure if he had treated everyone involved fairly given his personal
relationship with the attorney. Judge English faded from the public eye and
was never formally charged with any crimes, although his reputation was in tatters - but
this case was far from over. Three years after he resigned, the Georgia
Court of Appeals opened up many of his past cases and ordered new trials, because no one
knows if his rulings were compromised. But the bad judge landed on his feet - he
opened a law firm, where he practices to this day. Lust undid Judge English, but it was pride
that was this next judge’s ultimate sin. #9. Paul Hawkes Paul Hawkes didn’t begin his career as a
judge - he was initially a member of the Florida House of Representatives before he was appointed
to the bench by Governor Jeb Bush. And maybe that should have been the first
warning - because you can take the judge out of the legislature, but you can’t take the
politician out of the judge. The county Judge Hawkes worked in had fallen
on hard times, and many judges were having to lay off staff. While most buildings in the area needed routine
maintenance, Hawes had bigger ideas - he wanted to build his very own judicial palace worthy
of his wisdom - at least in his own mind. The judge had big plans, including a massive
glass dome looming over the central courtroom, fancy granite furniture, and amenities for
the judges that sound more like a luxury hotel than a courtroom. But hey, it’s probably essential for our
finest legal minds to have a personal gym and kitchen in their courthouse. And don’t forget that state-of-the-art flatscreen
TV. So how did Judge Hawkes get this approved? There were a few tricks. First of all, Hawkes worked behind the scenes
with legislatures to get the funding for the courthouse approved not as a cash addendum
to the budget but as a bond. This kept it under the radar of budget watchdogs
- and he made sure it was slipped in at the very last second as an addendum to a lengthy
budget. But when people started noticing this, things
got ugly. Hawkes soon developed a reputation as a ruthless
boss who would cut someone from his staff the first time they questioned him. Even with the massive windfall of money from
the state, Judge Hawkes’ judicial Taj Mahal kept running over budget. Rather than cut any of his precious amenities
- maybe the judges don’t need a room just for their robes? - he planned to get more
money from the legislature and charge full steam ahead. He was also notorious for trying to coerce
favors out of local businesses, including trips for himself and his whole family. But the whole thing was about to come crashing
down. No matter how many people Judge Hawkes fired,
his massive courthouse project continued to draw negative attention. When word got out that an investigation by
the Judicial ethics authority in the state was about to begin, Hawkes ordered a Sheriff’s
deputy to destroy many of the documents. He continued to deny any wrongdoing as the
evidence mounted, and many people started calling Hawkes one of the most corrupt judges
in Florida history - and in a state where Florida men regularly ride gators, that’s
saying something. But even this judge knew when to call it a
career, and as his ethics hearing approached, he abruptly resigned and this led to the dismissal
of the charges. But we can’t really call him a winner - after
all, he lost access to that swanky new courthouse. Some judges manage to find themselves in trouble
multiple times. #8. Mike Maggio Appointed to the court by Governor Mike Huckabee
in 2001, Mike Maggio served in Wisconsin without much controversy - at least in front of the
court. A former private practice attorney, he looked
to all like a respected judge - but online was a very different story. Maggio was a huge fan of the Louisiana State
University football team, and was a frequent contributor to their message board under the
name “Geauxjudge”. But he failed to remember that the internet
is forever, and made the critical mistake of oversharing. Not only did he make many posts that were
racist, sexist, and homophobic, but he would frequently share details from his court cases
- including breaching confidentiality in an adoption case. It didn’t take long for a political blog
to put together the evidence and discover that the anonymous “Geauxjudge” was actually
Judge Maggio, and he soon found himself forced to resign from the court. But things were about to go from bad to worse
for the bad judge. Before withdrawing from the race, Maggio filed
campaign finance reports for his upcoming campaign. Those revealed a number of hefty donations
from Michael Morton, a powerful businessman who was the owner of a health care corporation
called Central Arkansas Nursing Centers that runs nursing homes in the area - and one of
them happened to be the Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which was sued
by the estate of the late Martha Bull for negligence the prior year. The jury ruled against Greenbrier and awarded
Bull’s family 5.2 million for negligence and pain and suffering - only to watch as
Judge Maggio summarily reduced the verdict by over eighty percent. People were outraged, but there was no way
to prove any misconduct - until Greenbrier’s owner suddenly became the top donor to Maggio’s
campaign. Suddenly, this looked less like a bad judge
and more like corruption. And Maggio was about to go from judge to inmate. Not only did Maggio get banned from holding
judicial office again by his state’s ethics committee, he was soon indicted for accepting
a bribe. He pled guilty and was sentenced to ten years
in prison. However, as soon as he pled guilty, he began
cooperating with the authorities and his finger pointed firmly at former State Senator and
lobbyist Gilbert Baker. The politician had been the middleman between
Maggio and Morton, and had ties to many other cases of corruption. Baker was indicted, but the wily politician
managed to get acquitted on most of the charges. However, Maggio still benefitted from this
turn of events - his cooperation with the authorities led to his sentence being reduced,
and he was released from prison after serving about half of his sentences. But there’s bad news - message boards aren’t
very popular on the internet anymore. This next judge might have been happier on
the Maury Show. #7. Wade McCree Wade McCree had big shoes to fill when he
stepped into the role of a judge in Detroit. His father, Wade H. McCree was the first Black
man ever appointed as a United States Circuit Court Judge, and also served as the United
States Solicitor General. While he passed away in 1987, his children
carried on his legacy. His daughter was a Clinton nominee to the
US Court of Appeals, and his son served on the 3rd Circuit in Wayne County, Michigan. The problem was, Wade Jr. definitely did not
have his father’s temperament. He was known as a brash man who frequently
said inappropriate things in court, but most people who worked with him assumed he was
just eccentric. His behavior soon escalated - like when he
started sending shirtless pictures of himself to court employees. This led to him being censured - but that
was just beginning for the wild-man judge of Wayne County. The Shirtless Judge has bad judgment? Perish the thought? The beginning of the end for Judge McCree’s
career came when he was presiding over a child support case. One of the people involved, Geniene La’Shay
Mott, was seeking a child support order from her ex. McCree seemed favorable towards her - but
it soon became clear why. Most people in the court were surprised when
Mott became pregnant again in the middle of the court case - but they were even more surprised
to find out that the father of this baby was McCree, who had an affair with her. Not only that, but they had been conspiring
against the defendant in the court case, with the two of them trading texts about court
strategy. Mott’s ex was on probation, and McCree planned
to threaten him with jail time to make him turn over the money. And justice would now come for the shirtless
judge. As soon as word came out of Wade McCree’s
corruption, he was suspended without pay and removed from all his current cases. His salary was placed into escrow, and it
didn’t take long for the Michigan Supreme Court to render their judgment. McCree was found guilty of the ethics charges
against him, officially removed from the bench, and ordered to pay $12,000 in fines. There’s no word on whether he’s parlayed
his infamy into being a judge on a TV judge show where he can meet all the girls he wants
and settle court cases with bare-knuckle brawls. One thing’s for sure - he hasn’t lived
up to his father’s legacy. But sometimes it doesn’t take a lot of bad
decisions. Sometimes it just takes one bad day. #6. John C. Murphy We’ve all been there. There’s that one person around you that’s
just so annoying you think you’re going to lose your mind. Maybe that one woman two seats in front of
you in the movie won’t stop talking on her cell phone - and then you hear her drop a
spoiler! The next thing you know, you’re on your
feet threatening to throw her right through the movie screen. And that’s not great, but at least you’re
not a judge doing that in your courtroom! On a standard day in Murphy’s court, he
became frustrated with public defender Andrew Weinstock. Weinstock, while trying to protect his clients,
refused to have one waive his right to a jury trial. This would slow down court business massively,
and maybe Murphy had a tea time he was dying to get to. Because, whatever the reason, Murphy completely
lost his mind. He immediately started yelling at Weinstock,
boasting that if he had a rock, he would throw it at him. That didn’t intimidate Weinstock, and the
next thing the defiant lawyer knew, the judge was challenging him to a fight! Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, but the lawyer
took the judge at his word and they left the courtroom - and the next thing the people
in the court knew, they heard the judge punching the hapless public defender! A local deputy stepped outside to see the
two men pushing each other and separated them, and Weinstock beat a hasty retreat - while
Murphy returned to his courtroom and tried to resume the daily cases, much to the confusion
of the many defendants who Weinstock was supposed to represent that day. Needless to say, repercussions were swift. The footage of Murphy losing his mind on a
lawyer soon spread far and wide, and the public was outraged. If a judge could treat a lawyer like that,
how could anyone trust him to render a fair verdict on cases? Murphy soon issued an apology to county residents,
but that wasn’t enough for threats and assault. The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission
soon opened formal charges against him, and recommended a 120-day suspension, a fine,
and mandated participation in a mental health program. The Florida Supreme Court surprisingly disagreed
- and immediately removed Murphy from the bench immediately. They felt that after threatening an attorney,
there was no going back for Murphy’s reputation as a judge. No word on whether he threatened to beat up
any of the Supreme Court justices. Ambition was this next judge’s undoing. #5. Joan Orie Melvin Joan Melvin was born to succeed - at least
if you asked her. Starting her career as a corporate lawyer
and later going into private practice, she had her eye on a judgeship - and she got her
wish in 1985 when she was appointed to the Pittsburgh Municipal Court. It was all uphill from there, as she became
Chief Magistrate two years later and went on to establish the state’s first domestic
violence court. She was soon running for higher judgeships,
and it became clear that she had a mean and ruthless streak. When her 2003 race against Judge Max Baer
for the State Supreme Court ended in defeat, she became convinced that an anonymous blogger
named Grant Street 99 was responsible - and sued to unmask his identity. The blogger had alleged that she had acted
inappropriately in trying to get an ally a judicial seat, and Melvin didn’t rebut the
claims - but she took the case to the State Supreme Court, which ruled that the blogger’s
identity should be protected. But Melvin didn’t take defeat lying down. Judge Joan rebounded from her defeat and ran
for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court again in 2009, winning a ten-year term. She came from a powerful political family,
and two of her sisters, Jane and Janine Orie, had ambitions as well. Jane was a state senator who had been involved
in Joan’s campaign - and less than a year after the election, the two sisters were arrested. The state alleged improper use of State Senate
resources to run Joan’s campaign, and less than a month later Joan Orie Melvin joined
her sisters in the dock. She was indicted on nine criminal counts and
immediately suspended from the State Supreme Court - giving her arch-nemesis Judge Baer
another victory over her. But she didn’t have time to hold a grudge
- she had much bigger problems to deal with, like staying out of prison. And Lady Justice was coming for all the Orie
sisters. Judge Orie Melvin was quickly found guilty
on counts of theft of services, conspiracy, and misuse of government property. Her State Senator sister faced even stiffer
charges, including fourteen counts of forgery. Jane Orie served several years in prison,
while Janine Orie Melvin was sentenced to three years of house arrest followed by probation. But the judge wanted to make an example out
of this corrupt judge and added some particularly embarrassing riders to her sentence - not
only did she have to perform community service in a soup kitchen, but she had to send a hand-written
apology to every judge in the state, accompanied by a picture of her wearing her post-arrest
handcuffs. Both sisters were disbarred as a result of
their convictions, bringing a sad end to the case of Pennsylvania’s most corrupt sisters. But they didn’t top the list of shocking
judicial misconduct. #4. Mark Fuller Alabama Judge Mark Fuller was already a controversial
figure, known for being a hard-nosed judge who showed little mercy towards criminal defendants. A former elected district attorney, he didn’t
have the same approach to his employees - salaries for those working in his office were known
for being unusually high and coming with exorbitant benefits that seemed more like patronage than
pay. But he was most notorious for the case of
former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who was charged with medicare fraud. The case was filled with prosecutorial errors,
but Siegelman was eventually convicted after an extended jury deadlock where Fuller refused
to allow a hung jury. Fuller sentenced Siegeman to more than seven
years in prison, an unprecedented sentence that raised controversy given the flawed evidence
in the case. But it wouldn’t be the only time Judge Fuller
courted controversy. There were many pieces of evidence pointing
to Fuller having a conflict of interest in the case, including his refusal to let the
defense present evidence of selective prosecution. He even ordered Siegelman taken immediately
to prison in restraints after conviction rather than allowing him to remain free on appeal. Even more shocking - Siegelman had ordered
an investigation into Fuller’s finances as district attorney when he was Governor,
and a furious Fuller claimed that he was the victim of a political investigation. All this led many people to view Fuller as
a politically motivated judge who used the trial to take revenge and had a dangerous
temper that made him unfit for the bench. They were about to be proven right - but not
in the courtroom. Five years after the Siegelman trial, as the
former Governor was still in federal prison, police were called to Fuller’s home. The judge was arrested on allegations of misdemeanor
battery for assaulting his wife. The second Mrs. Fuller accused her husband
of having an affair with one of his law clerks - and he responded by attacking her. Fuller was kept in prison overnight, and was
immediately pulled from all his cases. He pled guilty and agreed to attend a domestic
violence and counseling program to have the charges dismissed - but his critics weren’t
satisfied. He was met with hundreds of calls for his
resignation, and stepped down in May 2015 in disgrace. Siegelman was released from prison in 2017,
and his supporters continue to point to Fuller’s conduct as an argument for overturning his
conviction. This next judge served as the center of one
of the biggest political corruption scandals of all time. #3. Thomas J. Maloney When people think about political corruption,
they often think about Cook County. The Illinois political network has seen countless
politicians go to prison - including most infamously a former Governor who tried to
sell the Senate seat just vacated by Barack Obama! But an area doesn’t get that corrupt just
through high-profile politicians, and one judge achieved a particular spot in infamy. Thomas J. Maloney, a former boxer and lawyer,
was named as a judge to the Illinois Supreme Court in 1977 - and even then people knew
he was trouble. While the public liked his tough-as-nails
nature and the harsh sentences he dealt out to gang members, others pointed out that he
had a reputation for mob connections and bribery. But were his sentences really tough - or was
he dealing out the best justice money could buy? The FBI was on the case. Maloney wasn’t the only judge under investigation,
and the FBI and multiple other government organizations cooperated on what would become
Operation Greylord - a large-scale undercover operation into the backroom dealings of state
law enforcement in Illinois. The feds arrested several judges who had been
found responsible for low-level corruption, and even sent some undercover to continue
operating on the bench and report on the criminal activity they saw. And they kept on coming back to Thomas J.
Maloney, whose corruption was shockingly blatant even for Cook County. Even before he was a judge, he reportedly
paid off a judge in a murder trial to acquit the defendant. Quietly, the FBI pressed charges in a secret
grand jury in 1988, and began to get closer to associates of Maloney. When they moved on the judge, they wanted
it to count. It was 1991 when the Feds moved on Maloney,
who was continuing to work as a judge up until the day they arrested him. They found multiple cases where he had taken
payoffs to acquit gang members and other criminals of crimes including murder. Maloney’s defense? He claimed that the bagmen who were supposed
to give him the money never did and kept the bribes for themselves! Not surprisingly, the jury didn’t find that
particularly convincing. Maloney was convicted of all charges in his
corruption case and sentenced to a harsh fifteen-year prison term for federal crimes. Having no bagman willing to bribe his own
judge, Maloney served twelve years of the sentence before being released on medical
parole and dying just a year later. This next corrupt judge proved there’s no
such thing as rock bottom. #2. Alcee Hastings Alcee Hastings had big dreams, and the ambitious
young man knew he was meant for the law. While being kicked out of Howard University
for bad grades briefly threatened to derail him, he rebounded and became a lawyer. He was soon headed for politics, and after
a failed run for the Senate, was appointed to a judgeship in 1977. Only two years later he got a call from President
Jimmy Carter - he was about to become the first Black federal judge in Florida’s history. He served for twelve years - but not without
controversy. In 1981, Hastings was presiding over the racketeering
trial of brothers Frank and Thomas Romano when he was approached by attorney William
Borders. He wanted to make sure his clients got a lenient
sentence - and Hastings was willing to make that happen to the tune of $150,000. That’s about when the FBI pulled up. The feds had been watching the case carefully,
and both Hastings and Borders were arrested. It would be two years before Hastings went
on trial, but the case against him fell apart. Borders had been convicted at his own trial
and prosecutors wanted him to testify against Hastings - but he surprisingly refused! The jury acquitted Hastings, and he went back
to serving as a judge with a massive ethical cloud over his head. He likely assumed he was safe with his fellow
Democrats controlling Congress - but that didn’t stop the House of Representatives
from impeaching him by a nearly unanimous vote in 1988. It went to the Senate and he was convicted
by an overwhelming margin and removed from the bench in disgrace. A furious Hastings appealed to the Supreme
Court and was denied. But the judge had one surprising last act
in him. Hastings did not know how to take no for an
answer, and soon ran for Florida Secretary of State. His platform of legalizing casinos didn’t
catch on, and he lost by a two-to-one margin only a year after his impeachment. But only two years later, he ran for Congress
in a safely Democratic district. He scored an upset primary victory, easily
won the general election - and proceeded to join the very body that had impeached him
only a few years earlier. Awkward. But despite his earlier ethical failings,
he served as a respected Congressman for almost twenty years, never facing a serious re-election
battle until his death in 2021. But there would be no redemption for the final
judges on this list. #1. The Kids for Cash Scandal Few positions in criminal justice are more
critical than juvenile court, where judges sentence young defendants and try to set them
back on the right path. These judges usually focus on rehabilitation
to make sure those teens don’t find themselves back in front of a judge as adults. But in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, two judges
seemed to be taking a very different approach. Judge Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella
were notoriously tough on crime, frequently sentencing teenage defendants to long prison
terms in juvenile detention facilities. Conahan, who was the President Judge of the
county, had stopped funding for the state-run juvenile detention center and instead focused
on a much larger privately-owned facility. Ciavarella, meanwhile, was gaining nationwide
attention for the harsh sentences he dealt out for surprisingly trivial crimes. And these judges were about to get a lot more
attention than they expected. Youth advocates and legal appeals groups soon
found themselves besieged with requests for help for teenagers sentenced in the districts. Many were sentenced to years at a juvenile
prison for minor crimes like shoplifting or getting into fights at school. Others got the same sentences for things that
weren’t really crimes at all - including insulting an administrator of their school
on social media, or trespassing in places where there were no real signs that someone
shouldn’t be there. It seemed like there was something bigger
going on there than just two strict judges who didn’t like kids - and there was. It was about to turn into the biggest political
scandal in Pennsylvania history. Pennsylvania had actually been receiving complaints
about Conahan on charges of nepotism and corruption since the 1990s, but hadn’t investigated
them fully. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court initially denied
a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the imprisoned youths - but everything changed
in 2009 when the two judges were charged with corruption. It turned out that the judges had been involved
in a years-long conspiracy to have private juvenile prisons built in their district and
received millions in kickbacks - as well as a fee for every juvenile prisoner they directed
to those facilities. So they weren’t just dealing out unfair
sentences - they were profiting from every kid they sent to prison. The case was airtight, and the two judges
seemed ready to sign plea deals that would send them to prison for seven years. But another judge had other ideas. Federal Judge Edwin M. Kosik, presiding over
their case, threw out the plea agreement. He felt their conduct was so outrageous that
the sentence was far too light, and a federal grand jury soon returned a whopping forty-eight
count indictment against the two judges who ruined kids’ lives for money. Two of the men involved in the construction
of the juvenile facilities soon pleaded guilty and pointed the finger directly at the judges. Ciavarella went to trial and was found guilty
on twelve counts including racketeering, and he was sentenced to twenty-eight years in
prison - one of the harshest sentences ever given to a judge. Conahan later pled guilty and was sentenced
to seventeen years in prison. Many of the youths inappropriately locked
up by the two evil judges were released, but the state of Pennsylvania will be reckoning
with the impact of the Kids for Cash scandal for many years to come. If you want to know about another shocking
breach of trust by law enforcement, check out “How World’s Most Corrupt Police Force
Finally Got Caught”, or watch “Most Evil Popes in the History of Mankind” for what
happens when even men of God can’t be trusted!
