Judge's Pics of His Privates Result in Unusual Discipline Ruling
Pennsylvania’s Court of Judicial Discipline says a Philadelphia traffic court judge brought his judicial office into disrepute when he showed photos of his genitals to a government contractor.
The court found that the mens rea requirement was established when Judge Willie Singletary displayed two pictures of his privates, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Singletary claimed he had completely forgotten about the pictures and he unintentionally displayed them. They were among dozens of photos Singletary showed to the contractor, including photos of his church and family.
“We think that the public—even those members of the public who register the lowest scores on the sensitivity index—do not expect their judges to be conducting photo sessions featuring the judicial penis,” the opinion said.
“We hold that a judge who intentionally grooms his penis for photography, and then intentionally photographs his penis for the purpose of display to others, had better remember that the photographs are in his phone lest they ‘slip out’ at some inopportune (albeit unplanned) time under circumstances which are likely to offend another person or persons.”
Singletary resigned after he was suspended from his judicial duties. Singletary’s lawyer told the Intelligencer he would be submitting objections to the opinion.
This isn’t the first time Singletary has run afoul of disciplinary authorities. In 2009, he was reprimanded for suggesting at a biker rally that those who donated to his judicial campaign would get favorable treatment from him once he was elected.
