Judge's Ruling Appealed; Litigants Note Allegations of His Drug Use
Two vegans awarded $2 each but no attorney fees or expenses in a civil suit over their arrest in a protest at a HoneyBaked Ham store are challenging Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Camp’s ruling based on the contention that he was using drugs at the time.
Camp is accused of buying cocaine and prescription pain pills from an undercover officer in a grocery store parking lot while accompanied by a stripper whom he allegedly paid for sex—and who turned out to be an undercover informant. Officers went on to find two guns in Camp’s car, leading to a felony charge of illegal use of controlled substances while in possession of a firearm in addition to felony and misdemeanor drug charge. He was arrested earlier this month and is free on $50,000 unsecured bond, and all of his civil and criminal cases are being assigned to other judges pending resolution of the case.
The ruling being appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was issued in July, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The protesters sought $199,955 in legal fees and $4,239 in expenses. At the time, Camp said the lawyers could not award fees when the plaintiffs only recovered $4 total.
Earlier this month, former federal prosecutor Buddy Parker speculated that a motion to overturn a criminal conviction might argue “that the court was impaired or the court was addicted.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia reports that Senior Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will preside over the criminal case against Camp. 11th Circuit Chief Judge Joel F. Dubina requested a judge from outside the circuit be assigned to the case.
