Ex-Atlanta U.S. District Judge Jack Camp, who embarrassed the judiciary and created a scandal by buying drugs for a stripper he was having an affair with, was sentenced Friday to 30 days in prison and 400 hours of community service, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The paper reported that Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan from Washington, who sentenced Camp in the Atlanta courtroom, said probation only was out of the question because Camp had breached his oath.
“He has disgraced his office,” Hogan said, according to the paper. “He has denigrated the federal judiciary. He has encouraged disrespect for the rule of law.”
Camp apologized in court, saying:
“I have embarrassed and humiliated my family as well as myself,” Camp said. “I have embarrassed the court I have served on and I am deeply sorry for that. When I look back at the circumstances which brought me here and look at what I did, it makes me sick.”
Camp said “the only thing I can say is that I’m so very sorry,” the paper reported.
On Nov. 19, Camp, who was on senior status, pleaded guilty to aiding a felon in possessing illegal drugs, possessing illegal drugs and giving his government issued lap top to the stripper he was having an affair with. He has resigned as a federal judge, which is lifetime presidential appointment. Camp bought drugs for the stripper, who was cooperating with authorities.
In a pre-sentence memo filed with the court, Camp’s attorney William Taylor of Washington wrote that Camp has suffered from acute depression, brain-damaging from a bicycle accident and personal family tragedy that may have contributed to him getting busted for buying cocaine for a stripper he was having an affair with.
“They do not excuse his conduct,” his attorney wrote.” They do help explain, however, how in May of 2010 a lonely man in the twilight of his life became entangled with a seductive prostitute more than willing to take advantage of his needs and of his misguided impulse to be her friend and protector.”
The memo noted that Camp entered a psychiatric hospital after his arrest last year. The physician in charge of his evaluation and treatment, Dr. Miles Quaytman talked to the probation office.
“In brief, since he sought pyschiatric care in 1999, Mr. Camp had been treated with standard antidepressant medications when his conditions actually involved a mood cycling or bipolar disorder,” the sentencing memorandum said. “Mood cycling disorders have both depressive and manic phases. Characteristic features of the manic phase are the excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have high potential for painful consequences and impairment of judgment about those consequences. Mr. Camp’s recent conduct is certainly consistent with that characterization.”
