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Judges Hiding abuse for profit

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Judge Les Hayes once sentenced a single mother to 496 days behind bars for failing to pay traffic tickets. The sentence was so stiff it exceeded the jail time Alabama allows for negligent homicide. Marquita Johnson, who was locked up in April 2012, says the impact of her time in jail endures today. Johnson’s three children were cast into foster care while she was incarcerated. One daughter was molested, state records show. Another was physically abused. “Judge Hayes took away my life and didn’t care how my children suffered,” said Johnson, now 36. “My girls will never be the same.” Fellow inmates found her sentence hard to believe. “They had a nickname for me: The Woman with All the Days,” Johnson said. “That’s what they called me: The Woman with All the Days. There were people who had committed real crimes who got out before me.” In 2016, the state agency that oversees judges charged Hayes with violating Alabama’s code of judicial conduct. According to the Judicial Inquiry Commission, Hayes broke state and federal laws by jailing Johnson and hundreds of other Montgomery residents too poor to pay fines. Among those jailed: a plumber struggling to make rent, a mother who skipped meals to cover the medical bills of her disabled son, and a hotel housekeeper working her way through college. Hayes, a judge since 2000, admitted in court documents to violating 10 different parts of the state’s judicial conduct code. One of the counts was a breach of a judge’s most essential duty: failing to “respect and comply with the law.” FULL STORY Read More

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The Worst Criminals in Society Wear Black Robes, Suits and Badges

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On April 5, as a part of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Leadership Enrichment Series, former FBI Special Agent Terrence Hake was invited to speak on Operation Greylord, an undercover operation in the 1980s to investigate corruption inside the Cook County judicial system. This event was hosted by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and co-hosted by the 19th Judicial Circuit with members of the Judiciary, Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, and Lake County Sheriff’s Office in attendance. Operation Greylord lasted over three years in the 1980s and included local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. During the investigation, 103 people were indicted on corruption-related charges with most of those charged either convicted at trial or by pleading guilty. Hake, while employed as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, played an important role in this investigation when he went undercover for the FBI, exposing the corruption occurring in the judicial system. At the conclusion of Operation Greylord, Hake became an FBI Special Agent, graduating from the FBI Academy in 1984 and served as a federal law enforcement officer for 23 years. “It was an honor to host Mr. Hake,” Sheriff Mark Curran said. “His experiences and story are an excellent example of how the justice partners must work together to maintain and ensure the continued integrity and trust of our justice system.” Sheriff Curran introduced the sheriff’s office Leadership Enrichment Series as a part of his ongoing efforts to raise the bar at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Past speakers have included Medal of Honor Recipient Allen J. Lynch, who discussed serving with honor and avoiding complacency; and Chief Tim McCarthy, who served in the U.S. Secret Service and is notable for defending President Ronald Reagan during an… Read More

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