June 23, 2010
— Ace Instapundit is always pushing a theory (a pretty good one) that abstract codes about ethics wind up obscuring genuine bad behavior, as people wind up complying with the ethical code but violate common decency. An easy example is the media, whose ethics code requires them to (giggle) refuse to state their politics and political affiliation. Having done that, they are supposedly "clean" of bias. Which then enables them to do all sorts of biased reporting.
As true as that might be, it's a terrific thing when a rotten-hearted bastard who has violated the moral code, for which he cannot be made to answer, winds up also violating the ethical code, for which he can be.
Robert Chatingy, you'll recall, believes that "sexual sadism" as found in 99% of serial killers ought to be a mitigating factor at sentencing, and perhaps an exonerating one. A vicious admitted serial killer came before him and no longer wished to fight his well-deserved death penalty; acting as judge, Chatigny threatened to have the serial killer's lawyer's bar licence yanked unless he violated his client's wishes and fought the sentence.
And none of that apparently was enough to disqualify him in the eyes of Obama.
President Barack Obama’s nominee to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, Robert N. Chatigny, did legal work as a private defense attorney in 1992 for convicted serial killer Michael Ross and then, in 2005, as a federal district judge, led a proceeding that resulted in a delay in Ross’ execution. Chatigny says he forgot about the earlier work and should have recused himself from the matter.“Had I recalled it, I would have recused myself,” Chatigny wrote in a questionnaire last month for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In 1992, Chatigny reviewed motions filed on behalf of Ross and exchanged a letter with Ross, work that did not involve direct representation of the killer.
...
In a written response to questions from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chatigny wrote, “I recalled my prior involvement only after one of the complainants amended his initial complaint to include a claim based on my prior involvement. Until then, I had no recollection of it.”
Ross had been convicted in 1987 and sentenced to death for the killing of four teenage girls; he boasted of raping and killing four other women.
I usually remember the bulk of my personal correspondence with serial rapist-killers who boast of having killed eight women. That sort of thing tends to stick in my mind. But that's just me.
An ethics violation was already filed back in 2005 and the sitting judge, shocker of shockers, was cleared of all wrongdoing.
And what was the then-defense-attorney's suggestion to the serial killer? Was it to lodge his own pet defense of "sexual sadism"?
Posted by: Ace at
07:50 AM
| Comments (59)
Post contains 485 words, total size 3 kb.
Posted by: alexthechick at June 23, 2010 07:55 AM (8WZWv)
Posted by: Vic at June 23, 2010 07:56 AM (6taRI)
Off-topic but related.
Posted by: HeatherRadish at June 23, 2010 07:56 AM (mR7mk)
Posted by: kallisto at June 23, 2010 07:57 AM (+FkcS)
Posted by: Quint&Jessel, Sea of Azof, Bly, UK at June 23, 2010 07:57 AM (GkYyh)
Posted by: Ben at June 23, 2010 07:59 AM (wuv1c)
Sexual sadism (torture) is actually an aggravating factor: the opposite of mitigation. Aggravating factors v. mitigation is how courts must look at the death penalty.
The cops might want to check under Chatingy's house.
Posted by: Beagle at June 23, 2010 08:00 AM (sOtz/)
Posted by: Big Fat Meanie at June 23, 2010 08:01 AM (8lCJT)
This is what lawyers do, and they naturally think they are unaffected by normal human bias. So most lawyers (and politicians during confirmation process) will think that it is unfair to hobble a fellow practitioner by thinking he can not be impartial just because the defendant was a former client.
I predict this has no legs. (a lot like the defendant's dates,...)
Posted by: nine coconuts at June 23, 2010 08:02 AM (DHNp4)
Wow, I really thought that nothing Obama does any more could surprise me. The fact he nominated this venal douchebag didn't surprise me. What does surprise me is not only did Chatigny get away with this unethical conflict of interest, but that he was able to not disclose this until now.
Republicans better go monkey daddy on his ass and shine the spotlight on him. They need to alert the public that this is the kind of judge Obama is trying to put on a federal bench, and they need to tie Democrats and their support to this evil, corrupt, dishonest, lying bastard. People need to be informed of the crap that Obama is trying to foist on this nation.
Posted by: runningrn at June 23, 2010 08:03 AM (CfmlF)
If the republicans were smart they would ask this just during the confirmation if he thought Jeffrey Dahmer should have been exonerated because he was a sexual sadist.
You'll recal that Dahmer drilled holes in some of his victims heads and poured in acid in an attempt to turn them into sexual zombies.
It would be good to get the judge on record on that case because it is a case every american remembers and if he answered the way he wanted to answer it would disqualify him in the eyes of the public and lead them to question Obama's judgement on judicial picks.
Posted by: Ben at June 23, 2010 08:03 AM (wuv1c)
Posted by: Alex at June 23, 2010 08:03 AM (3TjEK)
Posted by: Editor at June 23, 2010 08:04 AM (pUfK9)
Posted by: runningrn at June 23, 2010 08:06 AM (CfmlF)
Posted by: Steve Martin at June 23, 2010 08:06 AM (Aqzx6)
Posted by: alexthechick at June 23, 2010 11:55 AM (8WZWv)
Oh, those?
Those are just my collection of 'Little Shoes'.
I collect them.
Posted by: Judge Chatigny at June 23, 2010 08:09 AM (2bdC3)
I'm curious, since he "forgot" that he reviewed this serial killer's case when he was a defense attorney if he also reviewed other serial killer cases that he has conveniently also "forgotten."
Posted by: ParanoidGirlInSeattle at June 23, 2010 08:09 AM (RZ8pf)
Pull the other one, it's got bells on it.
Posted by: Randy Rager at June 23, 2010 08:10 AM (+G6hH)
We can't even get a clean-lib nominee. Part of the plan to cause more chaos?
Posted by: Kratos (missing from the side of Mt Olympus) at June 23, 2010 08:10 AM (9hSKh)
Posted by: Nighthawk at June 23, 2010 08:11 AM (OtQXp)
Yeah the Fox chick was interviewing some fed lawyer about that and he laughed. He started explaining it as 15K and before he could make his point she cut him off.
He has 15K stock in oil companies, think about that...15K in a type of company for a federal judge who most likely makes between 250K and 300K a year.
Posted by: Vic at June 23, 2010 08:13 AM (6taRI)
Those are just my collection of 'Little Shoes'.
I collect them.
And don't mind the hundreds of cans of "Low Irritant, Fast Kill" Raid in my crawlspace. I have a bad...insect problem.
Posted by: Judge Chatigny at June 23, 2010 08:13 AM (9hSKh)
...and he better be separating his green and clear glass into the appropriate recycle bins, if he wants to keep that job, eh?
Posted by: HeatherRadish at June 23, 2010 08:14 AM (mR7mk)
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at June 23, 2010 08:15 AM (eNxMU)
...and he better be separating his green and clear glass into the appropriate recycle bins, if he wants to keep that job, eh?
Posted by: HeatherRadish at June 23, 2010 12:14 PM (mR7mk)
I've got a dead AA battery here, we just sneak into his chambers, drop it in his wastebasket, and presto!
Problem Solved!
Posted by: Nighthawk at June 23, 2010 08:16 AM (OtQXp)
Posted by: Beagle at June 23, 2010 08:16 AM (sOtz/)
From Radish's earlier link (so disturbing):
It's MASS murderers who make the banner headlines, who garner our attention, sometimes for decades. Gacy languished on Death Row fifteen years, and his popularity only went up. He's the basis of books, of films; a 900 number gave listeners twenty minutes of Gacy proclaiming 'his innocence.' He wrote 23,000 letters, painted over 2,400 paintings. Rick owns four, including a chilling clown-skull emboldened by the words "Live While You Live." Whereas we won't let the proselytizing Jehovah's Witness inside, we opened the door to Gacy... sort of. We don't want a full-on confrontation - no one's going to pay to be locked in a basement with John Gacy - rather a peek, a holographic image just clear enough to simulate a sense of peril...
Posted by: runningrn at June 23, 2010 08:24 AM (CfmlF)
Posted by: Here Come Da Judge Chatigny at June 23, 2010 08:26 AM (xxgag)
He can condone sexual sadism all he wants, but just let him get caught sneaking a cigarette in the bathroom and see what happens to him!
Heh! If Barry lit up in a smoke free zone, it would have just the same effect as him being caught with a live boy or a dead girl. Nothing. The media would spin it as "America is better off when our overburdened, young President has a cigarette to deal with the stressful situation that George Bush left him."
Posted by: runningrn at June 23, 2010 08:27 AM (CfmlF)
Which begs the question, just how many serial killers did this guy try to get aquitted before he became a judge? I mean if working on a case like this was so unnotable that he couldn't remember it at all a few years later, I'd like to know just how many Ted Bundy types this worthless piece of crap worked for as a defense attorney.
Ok, sure, if he'd defended the guy on a traffic violation or maybe some minor possession charge I'd buy the "sorry, just forgot" defense no problem. But a serial killer? Seriously?
Posted by: StuckOnStupid at June 23, 2010 08:28 AM (e8T35)
This is what lawyers do, and they naturally think they are unaffected by normal human bias. So most lawyers (and politicians during confirmation process) will think that it is unfair to hobble a fellow practitioner by thinking he can not be impartial just because the defendant was a former client.
Wait, wait...you're saying that the legal profession is a corrupt cabal who have managed to take over most of our government and have a stranglehold on a third of it?
The devil you say.
Posted by: AmishDude at June 23, 2010 08:29 AM (Vo2Ef)
<i>He has 15K stock in oil companies, think about that...15K in a type of company for a federal judge who most likely makes between 250K and 300K a year. </i>
Considering how common oil company stock is in most 401k's, I'd love to see the judge ask those reporters how many of them don't own stock in an oil company. I'm guessing that all of them do, even if they don't realize it.
Posted by: StuckOnStupid at June 23, 2010 08:30 AM (e8T35)
maddog's link:
ENQUIRER WORLD EXCLUSIVE: AL GORE has been accused of sexually attacking a masseuse in Portland, Oregon - and is named in the official police report about the alleged assault, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively!
The bombshell story will appear in the new issue of The ENQUIRER and will include the secret police documents, a photo of the woman making the stunning charges and will reveal the shocking details about the pants she saved as evidence!
Heh! Blue dress, blue jeans--there's something poetic about that. I'm sure, though, that the MFM will refuse to cover this story just like they blacked out the John Edwards affair. The wagons will circle around St. Al.
Posted by: runningrn at June 23, 2010 08:31 AM (CfmlF)
The devil you say.
(looking around nervously). Ruh roh, Lacey!
Posted by: runningrn at June 23, 2010 08:32 AM (CfmlF)
Posted by: Joanie (Oven Gloves) at June 23, 2010 08:33 AM (HaYO4)
Posted by: The Dark Lord at June 23, 2010 08:34 AM (gbCNS)
I'm sure, though, that the MFM will refuse to cover this story just like they blacked out the John Edwards affair. The wagons will circle around St. Al.
Hey now, we don't really know what happened here. Maybe he was just inspecting her to determine her carbon footprint.
Posted by: StuckOnStupid at June 23, 2010 08:35 AM (e8T35)
Posted by: The Dark Lord at June 23, 2010 12:34 PM (gbCNS)
No! No! Obama is just incompetent, not evil!
Posted by: chemjeff who sees no evil at June 23, 2010 08:36 AM (OlN4e)
If she lived through it, I'm not interested.
Posted by: Judge Chatingy at June 23, 2010 08:39 AM (mR7mk)
Posted by: palerider at June 23, 2010 08:44 AM (PxVrQ)
Posted by: TheQuietMan at June 23, 2010 08:47 AM (1Jaio)
Lawyers have a serious rot in their profession, it's no secret. You'll find their defenders everywhere--even here. And if you believe one of them has behaved inappropriately, they'll point to their ethics reviews. Until you actually have the goods--then it becomes "not worth it" or "opening a can of worms" that will make you miserable.
An ethics violation was already filed back in 2005 and the sitting judge, shocker of shockers, was cleared of all wrongdoing.
I don't even like the honest attorneys--if they won't police their ranks they can suck my ass on a sweaty day.
Posted by: spongeworthy at June 23, 2010 08:48 AM (rplL3)
Posted by: Micheal Klagen at June 23, 2010 08:50 AM (SZy+Y)
Posted by: A Balrog of Morgoth at June 23, 2010 09:05 AM (ZESU0)
Here's hoping Onumbnuts doubles down on his Chatigny mistake, as he is inclined to do elsewhere.
Posted by: Louis Tully at June 23, 2010 09:11 AM (jat5l)
I do not believe Obama even has a soul. No one with a soul would do this stuff to any living creature. Obama will pay for his evil some day.......
Ok, so how would this be for poetic justice. Obama passes away some day and shows up in "Paradise". He is then informed by the curator that he and 39 other guys need to go into a small room together.
In the room is some worthless scumbag terrorist who blew himself up with a car bomb. The curator informs the terrorist, "Ok buddy, here's your 40 virgins. Enjoy."
Posted by: StuckOnStupid at June 23, 2010 09:14 AM (e8T35)
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Posted by: Boots at June 23, 2010 07:54 AM (06JTY)