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Revelations of Convicted Judge’s Brain Damage, Bipolar Disorder Spur New Hearing Requests

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 23, 2011, 12:58 pm CDT

U.S. Attorney Sally Yates says she won’t oppose new hearing requests by defendants sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jack Camp when he was using marijuana, cocaine and a prescription opiate.

So far, five out of 16 defendants sentenced during that period have sought new hearings, and at least one has received a lesser sentence, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “But the thorny question remains,” the story says. “Should a review be conducted of Camp’s decisions dating to 2000, when a bicycling accident damaged the frontal lobe of his brain?”

Camp’s brain damage and undiagnosed bipolar disorder were disclosed after he was accused of helping a stripper buy drugs. The former judge pleaded guilty and was sentenced earlier this month to 30 days in jail.

Yates told the Journal-Constitution that she will consider defense requests that call into question Camp’s judgment “to ensure that justice is served.”

Meanwhile, a second issue has surfaced as a result of Camp’s prosecution, the story says. Camp allegedly told the stripper that he struggled in cases involving black defendants because of her former relationship with a black man. The Federal Defender Office is planning a new trial request for one defendant who claims Camp was racially biased.