Dubbed in the Hollywood Reporter as the Serpico Judges, and by his detractors as the Hanging Judge and Maximum Stu for his willingness to frequently hand out the maximum 25 years to life sentence in intentional murder convictions.
At that time, New York state had no death penalty.
In 1985, he wrote Gov. Mario Cuomo to request the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate the county's criminal justice system, believing there was rampant corruption in the elite Police Homicide Squad and District Attorney's office, and that cases were being manufactured to obtain convictions in major homicide trials. After a three year investigation by the State Investigations Commission, his whistleblowing resulted in numerous forced resignations and transfers in the police department, at the highest level of county government, and in the police laboratory. As a result of a deal, he was denied renomination by his own political party led by his former law partner, and ultimately this was the demise of his illustrious judicial career.
A Whistleblower's Lament is Judge Stuart Namm's compelling, personal account of his life in the law and politics, and the events that brought it to an end. Three weeks after leaving New York, he was the first recipient of the Justice Thurgood Marshall award and two other prestigious awards, including a lifetime membership in the NAACP.
A Whistleblower's Lament: The Perverted Pursuit of Justice in the State of New York
Good - honest - judges are hard to find!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good book. I'll see if my library has it. Thanks NASGA.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty telling commentary on the legal system and 99% of lawyers that in order to clean up fraud, racketeering, abuse and neglect you have to stop taking cases and remove yourself from the "system."
ReplyDeleteI've read, seen & heard enough about judges to think there's something really wrong with most of them. It's a shame when one is honest & wants true justice in the system for temperature to ostracized & forced out. Proves you cannot really trust the justice system-way too much corruption everywhere!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame that an honest judge is ostracized & forced out of the justice system. Proves that there is corruption everywhere. No real justice. I hope this doesn't dissuade others from speaking up-just proves how badly needed they are.
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