This is a true story. It is a court record that you can read yourself if you want to. It illustrates the extreme emotional damage a judge can inflict on people and still go unpunished because of judicial immunity.

The conditions that resulted in this story CAN BE CHANGED. You can help change these conditions if you decide to.

This story is about a woman named Cindy. Cindy was a young divorcee when her court ordeal began. She started work as a judicial secretary for a probate judge. Before long, the judge, married at the time, took a romantic interest in Cindy. He showered her with gifts, most of which she returned, paid for a trip by her and her son to Disney World, told her how much she meant to him, and hinted that he was thinking of divorcing his wife after the next election. Although he never made sexual advances towards her, he repeatedly suggested that she not remarry.

Her strenuous efforts to stave off the judge's overtures were futile. Over the judge's protests, Cindy dated her eventual husband, who was a youth counselor in the same probate system that included the judge. When he learned about Cindy's new relationship, the judge was furious. He left voice mail messages for her in one of which he said he "threw up when he heard of her engagement." He sent her emotional notes, one of which described "how crushed and hurt and devastated he was when he was told about the engagement, and another in which he wrote that her engagement made him "really goddamn sick and disappointed - more than you can possibly know."

The judge turned hostile toward Cindy's fiancee. He cited him for incompetence, complained to his supervisors, refused to recognize him in court, and rejected his recommendations. Cindy had had enough. She quit her job as the judge's secretary and took a job in another county department at a pay cut of $8,000. She explained her reasons in a letter to the judge in which she wrote:

"I would like to indicate that I take exception to the statement on your tape that you took me from being a 'pregnant hill ape' and made me the 'sophisticated lady' that I am today. I am not and never have been a hill ape, and the lady I am today was created by me, and certainly not by yourself."

Cindy and her husband sued the judge for violation of their civil rights. A jury found in their favor and awarded them $188,800 in damages. The trial court judge awarded the Cindy and her husband $72,000 for lawyer fees as allowed by the federal civil rights law.

A three judge federal appeals court reversed. The judge, they held, was immune from liability under the doctrine of judicial immunity. They threw out the jury award and reversed the order that reimbursed the Cindy and her husband for part of their lawyer's fees. The tens of thousands of dollars Cindy and her husband paid their lawyers went for naught.

The appeal court decision is in a book at law libraries known as the Federal Reporter. The citation to the case is: Cameron v. Seitz, 38 F.3d 264 (6th Cir. 1994) A law librarian will help you find it.

Because of judicial immunity, a judge can take your children away from you, put you in jail, lie about you, give your money away, take all your property intentionally for the purpose of destroying you, and get away with it. As long as it is part of a legitimate legal proceeding before the judge, he can do whatever he wants.

This rule is stated most clearly in a federal case known as Ashelman v. Pope, (793 F.2d 1072, 9th Cir. 1985) where the court wrote: "Judges and those performing judge-like functions are absolutely immune from damage liability for acts performed in their official capacities. . . . Judicial immunity applies however erroneous the act may have been, and however injurious in its consequences it may have proved to the plaintiff. . . . Such immunity applies even if it leaves 'the genuinely wronged defendant without civil redress against a prosecutor whose malicious or dishonest action deprives him of liberty.' [citation omitted]" (793 F.2d at 1075)

Even "a conspiracy between judge and prosecutor to predetermine the outcome of a judicial proceeding, while clearly improper, nevertheless does not pierce the immunity extended to judges and prosecutors (Ashelman v. Pope, 793 F.2d at 1075)

In a famous case, Stump v. Sparkman, (435 U.S. 349, 1978) a judge wrongfully ordered that a mildly retarded 15 year old girl be secretly sterilized. The judge told her that her appendix was being removed. Despite this outrageous deception, the U. S. Supreme Court decided the judge could not be held liable.

According to the Ashelman case, the reason judges must have total absolute immunity regardless of what they do is "to ensure independent and disinterested judicial ... decisionmaking." In reality, judges have made themselves dictators. They can do what they please without fear of paying for the damage or hurt they cause.

This obviously is not beneficial to our society. No one should have the power to hurt others intentionally or through gross negligence. As Lord Acton observed, power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Charles Caleb Colton, the noted English epigrammatist, said, "Power will intoxicate the best hearts as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power."

You can join the effort to change the rule of Judicial Immunity and make our society a better and safer place for you, your children, and your family. Contact your legislators and let them know your opinion that judges should be penalized when they don't follow the rules, ignore the law, and commit wrongs. Judges should be accountable for what they do like the rest of us. Contact information for your legislators is below.

Tell them you are in favor of:
• Report Cards on Judges. We can create citizen judge evaluation commissions that send voters performance evaluations on judges who run in an election to stay in office. This will provide you with information on judges who are listed in the ballot. This year, the judges and lawyers themselves said they were in favor of performance evaluations. We have drafted a proposed law that will implement this idea, We need public support for this measure.

• Judge Oversight Board. Minnesota's Constitution (Article VI, Section 9) gives the legislature the power to discipline judges. The legislature could create an office like the Office of the Legislative Auditor (this office actually reports to the legislature) that investigates citizen complaints of misbehavior by judges and assesses penalties when misbehavior is verified. This office would provide an incentive for judges to follow the rules and apply the law as it is. The proposed board would not have the powers to change court decisions or award damages.

• End $150 Tips for Judges. A rule that the judges created for their benefit only lets them take tips of up to $150 each from lawyers, special interests and others. A judge can take as many of these tips per day as he or she wants. The rule is public information. It is Canon 4(D)(5)(h) if the Minnesota Code of Judicial Conduct. Many people think these tips are the same thing as bribes. This should be illegal. Judges should be subject to the same restrictions on taking gratuities as members of the legislature. A proposed law that accomplishes this has been drafted. Public support will enable us to get it passed in the legislature.

Minnesota's legislators and politicians know that Minnesota's court and legal system is broken. They know that lawyers and lawsuits cost many thousands of dollars - far more than all but a very few Minnesotans can afford, that judges take secret $150 tips from lawyers, special interests and others, that poor defendants do not have effective lawyer representation, that voters know nothing about judges who run in elections, that judges are appointed to office in violation of the provision in Minnesota's Constitution that judges be elected by the people, and that, under the rule of Judicial Immunity, judges frequently violate rules of procedure, ignore the law, abuse their power, and commit wrongs that destroy people and families and hurt children - without any consequence or penalty. They know that common sense solutions would eliminate these problems, but do nothing - literally nothing - to implement these solutions. Why? Because legislators ignore obvious problems unless they are induced by political powers or forced to take effective action, even if they know the problem is devastating thousands of people every year. They do not have the commitment or character to act on their own initiative to remedy a problem unless they have a personal interest in it. They need a sharp kick in the rear end to ignite them to action on Minnesota's malfunctioning court and legal system. That is what we are asking the public to provide.

Your legislators are:

Legislators	Rep. Doug Magnus	Sen. Jim Vickerman
Email	rep.doug.magnus@house.mn	sen.jim.vickerman@senate.mn
Home Phone	507 836 8613	507 629 4878
Office Phone	651 296 5505	651 296 5650
Office Address	217 State Office Bldg.	226 State Capitol
	100 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.	75 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd
	St. Paul, MN 55155-1206	St. Paul, MN 55155-1606
Home Address	865 Highway 59	2252 221st St
	Slayton, MN 56172	Tracy, MN 56175

If you would like more information or have questions, please contact us at: info@thetruthaboutminnesota.org.

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