Crooked Judges Convicted

Two Bribe Taking Judges To Be Sentenced To Prison

The FBI secretly wiretapped and recorded two crooked judges taking bribes in Louisiana. They were indicted, arrested and convicted on racketeering charges. Having been found guilty, they now face sentencing that will see them locked away on very serious bribery charges.

When judges accept bribes, they not only betray innocent victims, they betray justice as well. Not to mention, disgracing the judiciary in ways that can never truly be repaired. It is a terrible abuse of power.

Vernon Claville and Michael Walker

Judges who engage in such conduct never think of the consequences of their choices. What happens when bribe taking judges let criminals go who go on to finish what they started and murder victims they previously assaulted. It has happened.

One day, that type of conduct could maim or wipe out a future head of state or future inventor/scientist that finds cures to life threatening diseases. All because a dirty judge decided to take a bribe.

How would such a judge explain their conduct to their children, family, friends, historians and the public.

Judges remain jailed until sentencing

Despite defense attorneys pleading for their clients' release, favorable testimony from nine witnesses and a relative's willingness to move in with one of the convicted, Caddo Judges Vernon Claville and Michael Walker must stay in jail until sentencing Sept. 4...

Claville and Walker were ordered to jail Saturday and taken to the Bossier Parish Maximum Security Facility after a jury convicted them for accepting cash payments for reducing bonds and lifting holds. They were indicted last year after a nearly five-year investigation. Prosecutors say the pair took a total of 24 bribes between May 2007 and July.

The jury deliberated a day and a half before unanimously finding the two guilty as charged, and Hicks ordered them to jail pending Tuesday's hearing.

Officials would not say where the judges ultimately will be held, citing concerns for their safety...

In efforts to keep Michael Walker and Claville in jail, an FBI agent testified that Travis McCullough, the government's key witness during the trial, fears for his life as well as the lives of his family. McCullough was arrested July 12 on drug charges, but he agreed to testify against the judges in exchange for having the charges against him dismissed.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com