An Obama judicial nominee is facing a little scrutiny following a letter detailing how he fought to prevent the execution of a serial killer. That’s not the really bad part. Rather than being the lawyer fighting for the stay, he was the judge hearing the case:
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny gained notoriety in 2005 for his role in trying to fight the execution of convicted serial killer and rapist Michael Ross, also known as The Roadside Strangler, whom Chatigny had described as a victim of his own “sexual sadism.”
His conduct in that case, which included threatening to go after Ross’ attorney’s law license, as well as his ruling in 2001 against sex offender registries created under Megan’s Law, has caused a commotion among Republicans on the judiciary panel.
“I’ve never seen conduct like this,” said a Republican source. “I’m shocked that the White House vetted this guy … and still put him up for a judgeship.”
Sen. Jeff Session asked for more time to review the judge’s record and Sen. Patrick Leahy was happy to give it to him.
Chatigny actually told Michael Ross’ lawyers to fight the execution and how, despite the fact that Ross didn’t want to fight. He threatened the defense lawyers, telling them he would personally go after their law licenses:
Chatigny stunned those involved in the serial killer case in early 2005 by pressuring Ross’ attorney on a conference call to challenge his scheduled execution even though Ross had said he did not want to fight.
The judge had raised concerns about whether Ross was mentally unfit and whether prison isolation had led to despair — at the time of the conference call, federal appeals courts had overturned two prior orders from him postponing the execution.
According to a transcript of that Jan. 28 call, the judge threatened to go after the law license of Ross’ attorney, T.R. Paulding.
“So I warn you, Mr. Paulding, between now and whatever happens Sunday night, you better be prepared to live with yourself for the rest of your life,” Chatigny said. “And you better be prepared to deal with me if in the wake of this an investigation is conducted and it turns out that what Lopez says and what this former program director says is true, because I’ll have your law license.”
Chatigny raised those concerns because of a letter he received from Ramon Lopez, mentioned above. Lopez was an inmate.
in 2001, Chatigny ruled “against sex offender registries created under Megan’s Law.”
The Obama administration calls Chatigny “a ‘first-rate’ legal expert and ‘faithful’ public servant.
What do you call him? And remember, this is supposed to be a family friendly blog.
