final update probably on one of the West Virginia judges from my previous videos you may remember the judge who was alleged to have pulled a gun in the courtroom then denied doing so and then apparently admitted to doing so and then it was caught on video The Saga has now apparently just ended for now I'll tell you what happened but first you may be asking yourself which West Virginia judge is this again let's run through a few of the crazy judge cases here in West Virginia and then I'll tell you what happened we have to set the context here I mean some of these cases are just absolutely insane I've seen this crap enough this is me [Music] let's see there's the family court judge that I filed a lawsuit against for personally performing in a legal search for my client's house who was then deprived of judicial immunity in the lawsuit she's currently appealing to the fourth circuit The Institute for justice recently announced that they joined the case and published a great video about it but you already know about that one if you watch my videos I'll link more information about that in the description then there's the case of the West Virginia circuit court judge who acted up at a traffic stop I was the one who first obtained and released that footage on YouTube problem how you doing sir the reason I'm stopping George Williams I don't why did you stop you had your cell phone in your hand give me a ticket I just don't understand why you're give me a ticket I hear your cases every day in court okay what's up why are you being like this I'm being it because I've seen this crap enough and I'm tired so much give it to me let me have my license now honestly I need to go get your license up to date because they're expired okay that judicial disciplinary case is still ongoing that judge was recommended for suspension but the state supreme court has the final say and has yet to make a decision on that one I'll also link more information on that one in the description there was another West Virginia circuit court judge who fairly recently ordered the arrest of two correctional officers with no legal basis for doing so which earned him a public reprimand that by the way is the same county as my most recent video The Wildlife officer antler case if you're wondering what type of environment it would take for that to occur now the next judge I'm going to tell you about was caught on video and it's a doozy but first I really want to thank the sponsor of this video The Ridge wallet you have gifts to buy so look no further every guy I've shown this wall or two wants one now get the best offer at ridge.com tcrl just for my audience and right now you can save up to 40 percent through December 22nd whether you're in the truck in the office or out it stays out of the way you really don't need any anything else than a couple cards and a little wad of cash it has RFID blocking technology to stop the digital pickpockets years ago I stopped keeping my bulky wallet in my 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disabled she's gonna run and you you the stocking piece of our picture of our house because of you my wife has been vandalized four times you realize that of course because I'm sure you're probably in or laughing about it I swear to you you're responsible you are responsible I'm holding you personally responsible for anything that happens at my house I promise you I promise you but if I so much to see somebody breaking at my home my wife my family you and me is going to have a problem it's disgraceful but you and your little buddies do not have the guts the integrity just a human decency but no you got to threaten my family now or buddy it's personal the ABA article stated that in one hearing the opinion says when speaking to a woman who is seeking an order of protection against her then-husband in a domestic violence case Watkins blamed the woman for shouting off your fat mouth about what happened told her to shut up and then continued shut up you stupid woman can't even act properly one more word out of you that you aren't asked a question you're out of here and you'll be found in direct contempt of court and I'll find you appropriately so shut your mouth you know I hate it when people are just acting out of sheer Spite and stupidity then there was probably the worst of all no definitely the worst of all as far as my recollection goes judge thornsbury who is indicted by the feds for official corruption in Mingo County West Virginia and that one made national headlines from an FBI press release on August 15 2013. here's the title West Virginia Circuit Judge arrested for framing romantic rival comma rigging grand jury here's how it reads judge thornsbury's charged with conspiring to violate the constitutional rights of victim identified as RW who was the husband of thornsbury's secretary in early 2008 the indictment alleges thornsbury began a romantic relationship with his secretary identified as KW which she broke off in June of that year after KW ended the relationship thornsbury instructed a co-conspirator to plant illegal drugs underneath rw's pickup truck and then arranged for police to stop RW and search for the drugs the co-conspirator tasked with planning the drugs backed out of the plan at the last minute thwarting thornsbury's scheme thornsbury then tried a different approach the indictment alleges RW worked at a coal preparation plant where newly mined coal was processed before shipping one of the plant's functions was remove scrap metal that had fallen into the coal during mining thornsbury learned that rw's supervisors had given him permission to salvage scrap items including drill bits that were found amid coal at the plant which were simply discarded if RW did not collect them thornsbury's secretly instructed a West Virginia state trooper to file a criminal complaint that falsely alleged r RW was stealing the scrap metal from his employer the trooper resisted telling thornsbury that RW was allowed to salvage the scrap but ultimately yielded to thornsbury's demands filing a false criminal complaint that led to rw's arrest for Grand Larceny in December 2008. fast forward to a Charleston Gazette Mail article from March 13 2018. here's the title ex-mingo judge thornsbury to be released from prison this week that article explained that a federal judge sentenced the former judge to 50 months in prison in June of 2014 after he pled guilty to one count of conspiracy against civil rights it also explained that the judge's criminal conduct was only exposed due to the murder of the sheriff in that county which ended up revealing a criminal scheme involving the judge the murdered Sheriff allegedly the former Mingo prosecuting attorney as well as a former County Commissioner but wait we're not done just yet there was the West Virginia judge who bit a guy's nose this one was a little bit before my time in fact I think I was probably playing High School football time this story came out October 24th 1997 the AP reported here's the headline feisty judge bites unruly defendant's nose this one is actually pretty interesting and probably deserves a video of its own Joseph Tracy a 47 year old judge on the Pleasants County Circuit Court could get up to a year in jail and a 500 fine for the alleged attack June 26th against Bill Whitton 29. Troy C still faces federal civil rights charges carrying up to 10 years in prison Tracy was accused of stepping down from the bench taking off his robe and confronting Whitten after the defendant cursed at the judge while being led out of the courtroom afterward Witnesses said Tracy returned to the bench as if nothing happened a report prepared by the state supreme court said troyce who was first elected to the bench in 92 had a long-standing inability to control his temper on the bench in all Tracy lost his temper 19 times in the past two years the report said was that wrong should I not have done that so then July 29 1998 the AP reported nose biting judge to return to jail so here's the update as of 98 a former judge who served five days behind bars for biting a defendant's nose was ordered back to jail for the rest of his original six-month sentence Wednesday for violating the terms of his probation Circuit Judge Arthur recht ruled that former County Judge Joseph Tracy inappropriately confronted and provoked the court official who had testified against him in a nose biting case Tracy admitted on the stand that he called Pleasants County Deputy circuit clerk Ward gross a liar and other epithets in the Saint Mary's Courthouse June 30th but he showed little remorse over the incident I feel it was stupid I don't feel it was wrong Tracy said of his behavior Tracy resigned from the bench and pleaded no contest to battery charges in October 1997 for biting the nose of a defendant after a contentious bail hearing he served five days in jail and received one year of probation I don't want to say the last but not least because this seems to be ongoing but would you believe me if I told you that not too long ago basically our entire Supreme Court in West Virginia was impeached by the legislature from another AP story August 14 2018. here's the title all of West Virginia's Supreme Court Justices impeached over spending West Virginia lawmakers completed the extraordinary move of impeaching all four state supreme court justices Monday night for spending issues including a suspended Justice facing a 23-count Federal indictment Justice Robin Davis was impeached for five hundred thousand dollars in office Renovations and lawmakers approved articles of impeachment against lawfree for spending 363 thousand dollars in renovations to his office having a forty two thousand dollar antique desk in computers all owned by the state at his home lying to the house finance committee about taking home the desk and a thirty two thousand dollar suede leather couch that one was purple by the way in the end only justices Walker and Workman remained in their position while justices law free and Ketchum resigned and were federally tried and Justice Davis retired so returning back to the judge accused of pulling a gun in the courtroom which in case you forgot is why we're here so here's the update Circuit Judge David W Hummel Jr submitted his letter of resignation on November 23rd to Governor Jim justice so he resigned but this is all he said quote I write to advise you that as of the close of business today I am resigning the position of circuit court judge of the Second Judicial Circuit Hummel wrote in the one paragraph letter which also was delivered to the state supreme court justice John Hutchison quote it has been a terrific honor to serve in this role since January 2009 so that's it no reason given the reason is obvious though according to the West Virginia record Hummel is the focus of a state judicial investigation commission investigation even though the jic can't confirm or deny the existence of such a probe jic Chief counsel Theresa Tarr told the West Virginia record that complaints and investigations are confidential unless they issue formal charges or an admonishment also rule 2.2 of the state rules of judicial disciplinary procedure States the resignation of a judge shall not relieve the obligation of the office of disciplinary Council to investigate a complaint that the judge violated the code of judicial conduct and to fully proceed in accordance with these rules what that means is that they will still investigate you even if you resign and you're no longer a judge why well it's also tied to your law license as well as your ability to become a judge again in the future theoretically you don't have to cooperate but you will for sure lose those things if you don't the gun in the courtroom controversy first started when a Texas lawyer Lauren Varnado who had been trying a contentious oil and gas case in the oil and gas region of West Virginia the upper Panhandle so that's right we have no NFL team but we have two panhandles priorities she provided the allegations to The Daily Beast who first reported on it they claimed that the judge initially denied the presence of a gun later videos surfaced to the gun that caused a slight problem with the judge's denial or at least the ability to deny the presence of a gun in the courtroom at the end of the day the video proves that the judge in fact had the gun in the courtroom perhaps that wouldn't always be a problem except that here an attorney in the courtroom was willing to destroy that judge's career over it which also begs the question is why was it there in the first place under these circumstances this is one of those things where it doesn't really matter because there's no good explanation for it under the circumstances there's more details in my prior video on this which I'll also Link in the description as always thanks for watching make sure to subscribe to keep completely up to date with all of the judicial craziness here in wild and wonderful West Virginia if you have a video you want me to see please use the submission Link in the description or at the blog if you want to support the Channel please consider clicking the join button and becoming a channel member sponsor remember freedom is scary deal with it I'll see you next time [Music] foreign