Resentencing offered in Camp cases
The U.S. Attorney in Atlanta today offered new sentences for those initially sentenced by disgraced federal judge Jack T. Camp between May and September.
Camp, former senior judge in the district that includes Atlanta, was arrested in October on charges of buying drugs from and for a stripper with whom he had a relationship, records show. They included marijuana, cocaine and prescription painkillers.
Camp pleaded guilty last month to drug possession and use and converting government property to private use, records show.
In a news conference, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said a witness in the case testified that Camp said he was prejudiced against African-American men. Another witness testified of hearing Camp use a racial epithet.
Camp denied the allegations, Yates said, but the "disturbing facts and allegations" led the office to evaluate "any case adjudicated by Camp for impairment or bias."
She also said that between May and September, "there is evidence that Camp's judicial decision-making process may have been impacted by bias and/or impairment and it has been established that he was involved in criminal conduct during this period."
She said the resentencing is being offered in the interest of fairness.
"We take very seriously a defendant's and the public's right to a fair, impartial, and unimpaired jurist to administer justice," Yates said during the news conference.
"We are committed to doing everything within our power to ensure that all defendants are treated with the fairness and integrity guaranteed by our system of justice."