US judge accused of prisoner sex deals

A former judge is to stand trial in a court in Alabama charged with having sex with male prisoners in exchange for lenient sentences. Herman Thomas was the Democratic party's choice to be the first black federal judge in the south of the state before a series of lurid allegations were made against him. His lawyers say the charges are racially and politically motivated.

The charges, which Thomas denies, include sodomy, kidnapping and extortion. Prosecutors say 15 current and former male inmates will give evidence against him.

Thomas resigned as a circuit judge in 2007 after being accused of bringing inmates into his office and slapping them with a wooden paddle. He was later charged with the more serious offences. If convicted of sodomy and kidnapping, he faces at least 20 years in jail.



Thomas was first accused of offering inmates leniency in return for sex in 2001 but the case was dismissed.

The authorities began investigating him again after he changed a jail sentence in 2006 for his cousin even though the case was being handled by another judge. Other cases that Thomas had taken over from other judges without their approval then began to surface. Some inmates in those cases described being allowed out of prison for meetings with Thomas in his car or in his private office. Then came allegations of spankings and sex.

His lawyer, Robert Clark, describes the charges against Thomas as "a hi-tech lynching". He added: "They don't like uppity black folks, and that's what they consider Herman."