Judge throws party for condemned man

[Casshew]

A Dallas judge welcomed fugitive back to her court, throwing him a party that included balloons and a cake. Then, she sent him to prison for life. "You just made my day when I heard you had finally come home," Criminal Courts Judge Faith Johnson told Billy Williams, who was captured Thursday by a fugitive task force after nearly a year on the run.

Williams, who was accused of choking his girlfriend until she was unconscious, failed to appear for his November trial and was convicted and sentenced in absentia.

Johnson sentenced Williams to life in prison for aggravated assault.

But the send-off failed to cheer Williams up.

"It seems like everyone wants to have a party, and it's fun for you people, but not for me," Williams told Dallas-Fort Worth television station KDFW as he was led away in handcuffs.

Williams has a lengthy criminal record and has used numerous aliases to elude authorities, according to a release from the U.S. Marshals Service.

Before Williams was brought into the courtroom Monday, Johnson directed gleeful courtroom staff members as they placed balloons and streamers around the courtroom. A colourful cake was decorated with "Welcome Home Billy Ray Williams."


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/10/25/685047-ap.html

 

[Jeana (DP)]

NOW THAT is an excellent judge!!!! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[Old Bird]

I like this judge!!! Sadly, she is already being criticized! I thought it was GREAT -- laughed when I saw the pics!

 

[Casshew]

Judge defends party.

A judge who welcomed a former fugitive back to her courtroom with balloons, streamers and a cake defended her actions Wednesday, saying that getting a killer and abuser of women off the streets is reason to celebrate.

Judge Faith Johnson threw the party Monday upon sentencing 53-year-old Billy Wayne Williams to life in prison.

Williams, who previously served time in prison for killing his wife, went on the lam a year ago while on trial in Johnson's court on charges he choked his girlfriend until she passed out. He was convicted in absentia of aggravated assault.

"A full year later, he was recaptured, off the streets, and no longer a community threat. And, yes, I threw a party," the judge said in a statement.

The judge said about 4 million U.S. women a year are physically abused by their husbands or live-in partners, and some 30% of female murder victims in this country are slain by their husbands or boyfriends.

"When these kind of stats begin to shrink, then we'll have cause to celebrate," she said. "Until then, this man's recapture — particularly in national domestic violence month — sends the message that the law is against domestic violence."

The party for Williams troubled some legal experts, and Seana Willing, executive director of Texas' Commission on Judicial Conduct, said the incident may have violated requirements that judges remain impartial and observe proper decorum.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-10-26-judge-party_x.htm

 

[Jeana (DP)]

I heard that they're investigating her. Hopefully, she's got a good record, so they'll just tell her to knock it off and not suspend her or anything.