March 19, 2002

Local NOW activists and a coalition of Maryland state legislators are calling for the removal of a judge who overturned a jury's conviction in a rape and domestic violence case earlier this month.

Circuit Court Judge Durke G. Thompson said that the alleged victim — an undocumented immigrant who prosecutors say was raped and beaten by a former boyfriend — may have accused the man of rape to get revenge because he refused to marry her. Then he overturned the conviction that a jury returned in 45 minutes back in November and ruled that the man, who is currently free on bond, should be given a new trial.

The Montgomery County chapter of NOW asked the Maryland Judicial Commission to review Thompson's cases on March 6. The next day, the Women's Legislative Caucus also filed a complaint with the Commission.

It wasn't the first time Thompson, whose term doesn't expire until 2011, has been the subject of formal complaints. During a sentencing hearing for a convicted child molester two years ago, Thompson reportedly told the 11-year-old victim that it "takes two to tango." The Judicial Commission reprimanded Thompson for that statement, but dismissed allegations by Montgomery County NOW and the Women's Legislative Caucus that Thompson had repeatedly exhibited judicial misconduct toward female victims.

Maureen Quinn, an Annapolis, Md. attorney who does pro bono legal representation for domestic violence victims, filed a complaint with the Judicial Commission two years ago saying that Thompson is condescending to women and blatantly biased in domestic violence cases. Thompson retaliated by filing a complaint against Quinn with the state's Attorney Grievance Commission, which is now investigating her. It reportedly recommended earlier this month that Quinn be charged in court with "reckless disregard for the truth."

Duchy Trachtenberg, president of NOW's Montgomery County chapter, says she has spoken with nearly 30 women — domestic violence and sexual assault victims, jurors and lawyers — about their experiences in Thompson's courtroom. "We feel his behavior doesn't reflect an occasional misstatement or misstep — it's a reflection of his long standing judicial misogyny," Trachtenberg says. "He has no business working with women, period. It doesn't matter if they're victims, it doesn't matter if they're lawyers."

NOW Action Vice President Olga Vives joined Trachtenberg at a March 13 press conference where they called for Thompson's removal. "If left unchecked, people like Judge Thompson will eventually make it to the federal, appellate and district courts, and even to the Supreme Court," Vives said. "And while they wait for their chance, they will proceed to inflict pain and suffering on people in their courtroom, many of them victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse."