Texas Judge Censured Over Remarks on Homosexuals

Gay activists applauded Tuesday’s public censure of a judge who said he gave a lighter sentence to a killer because the victims were homosexuals.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued the censure order for District Judge Jack Hampton, whose remarks to reporters in December ignited a yearlong storm of criticism.

“The commission finds that Judge Hampton’s comments, per se, were destructive of public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,” the commission’s order said.

Public censure is the strongest action the commission could take short of recommending the 57-year-old Republican’s removal from the bench. Robert Flowers, the panel’s executive director, read a commission report describing public censure as “tantamount to denunciation.”

William Waybourn, president of the Dallas Gay Alliance, commended the rebuke and called for Hampton to step down.

“I believe that it’s certainly a step in the right direction. But Judge Hampton remains on the bench. What is to happen now to gay men and lesbians who come into his courtroom?” he said.

Bill Nelson, an attorney for the Dallas Gay Alliance, said the group intends to file a petition with the Texas Supreme Court calling for Hampton’s removal.

Hampton was unavailable for comment, but Thompson & Knight, the Dallas law firm that represents him, issued a statement that called the commission’s finding “solely a political act” that “has made a mockery” of commission rules.

In December, 1988, Hampton said he sentenced Richard Lee Bednarski to 30 years in prison--instead of life--for the slaying of two men in a park because the victims were gay.

“Those two gays that got killed wouldn’t have been killed if they hadn’t been cruising the streets picking up teen-age boys,” Hampton said.

In its ruling, the judicial conduct commission noted that and other remarks made by Hampton to reporters. Among comments the commission cited:

--”Some murder victims are less innocent in their deaths than others. In those cases, a defendant is unlikely to deserve a maximum sentence.”

--”The victims were homosexuals. They were out in the homosexual area picking up teen-age boys. Had they not been out there trying to spread AIDS around, they’d still be alive today.”