Judges are incredibly powerful. A great deal of the law is left up to their discretion, and they decide whether someone is locked up or not.
However, this judge found himself on the opposite side of the bench:
Wearing cutoff shorts and a T-shirt with the slogan “Bad is my middle name,” St. Clair County Circuit Judge Michael Cook pleaded not guilty to federal counts of possessing heroin and having a firearm while being an illegal user of controlled substances.
This is turning out to be an excellent picture.
The plot thickens:
Earlier Friday, the county coroner said toxicology tests showed that Cook’s colleague, St. Clair County Circuit Judge Joe Christ, overdosed on cocaine while staying with Cook at the Cook family’s 2,500-square-foot cabin near the Mississippi River in western Illinois.
Welp, I think this guy has officially qualified for “Lifetime Movie” status.
Let’s see—you’re a judge, who has sworn to honor and uphold the law. Instead you break multiple laws and show up in court looking straight out of a trailer park.
What’s in the water in the judge’s chambers of Illinois?