MOBILE, Ala. — A prosecutor depicted a former Alabama judge on Friday as a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" who had sex with jail inmates in return for leniency while claiming to straighten out their lives.
Former Mobile Circuit Judge Herman Thomas built a reputation for mentoring troubled young men while hiding his sexual abuse of them, Chief Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson told the jury in opening arguments.
She compared the judge, prominent in community programs, to the famous Robert Louis Stevenson character with a dual personality, embodying both good and evil.
She said young male inmates liked it when he took a special interest in their cases and their mothers were sometimes supportive of it. But then he began trading probation or release on bond for sexual gratification, she said.