Salon.com > Michael Haddigan

Looting the temple of justice

Fri, 21 Aug 1998 16:39:00 +0000

In the summer of 1991, Pulaski County Administrator Walter E. "Sonny" Simpson was seeking a reasonable justification for how he might be able to explain away the stories he was hearing about the distressing manner in which Municipal Judge David Hale was administering his court. After all, Simpson was personally fond of David and his older brother, Milas, who was then also a municipal court judge in nearby Sherwood; and all three men had been active over the years in the same Democratic Party circles

But the more Simpson looked into the complaints of several of David Hale's own courthouse employees, the more he became convinced that a judge who was sworn to uphold the laws of the state of Arkansas was routinely violating them with impunity. "Some of the things that they were doing were absolutely illegal," recalled Simpson, who is also a retired Little Rock police chief.

After conducting a lengthy inquiry, Simpson concluded that Hale had allowed a private collection company, Special Court Services (SCS), to operate rent-free out of his court and to use restricted law enforcement crime databases. Simpson also discovered that Hale had allowed the same company to collect off-the-books "warrant withdrawal" fees from defendants even though no warrants had been issued in the first place.

False Witness: Part Five

Thu, 30 Jul 1998 19:00:00 +0000