Michael Carl Thomas, Jr.
Leonardtown, MD — A judge’s use of the “N” word in a St. Mary’s County courtroom has caused repercussions in a case with convictions for rape and sex offenses.
Michael Thomas, Jr, now 27 of Leonardtown, was found guilty of second-degree rape and two counts of third-degree sex offense. The conviction came after a court trial Feb 13, 2012 before Judge Vincent Femia of Prince George’s County. Judge Femia, now 79, retired from day-to-day activity on the bench in 1997 after 20 years on the job, but still to this day occasionally hears cases as do many retired judges in Maryland.
The charges against Thomas stem for alleged incidents that occurred while he was living at the home of an acquaintance. The victims, whose ages ranged from 12 to 15, included the daughter of the couple who owned the home and the daughter’s friends.
In a somewhat unusual occurrence, the judge ordered sentencing for the next day.
Before the sentencing, and while Thomas’ family and his lawyer were waiting for the sentencing, Judge Femia engaged in a conversation with a deputy state’s attorney who was not involved with the Thomas case. It was that conversation that has been the subject of an ongoing legal entanglement ever since.
In a Petition for Post-Conviction Relief filed by an attorney for Thomas, the transcript of the conversation between the judge and the prosecutor was revealed. Judge Femia, who has a reputation for telling stories to courthouse workers and observers, asked the prosecutor if he remembered a murder trial from more than 40 years previously involving an African-American motorcycle gang member named Aaron Dale Little, who was known as “Little Jesus.”
A jury acquitted Little. Judge Femia then said that after the verdict the foreman of the jury came up to him. The judge in open court then repeated what the foreman said to him: “Had it been me I would have killed the other nigger.” The judge then went on to say, “Aaron Dale Little then went to Virginia and attempted to relieve a liquor store of its profits for the day and attempted to swim the Four Mile Run with his pair of boots on. He didn’t make it. God prevailed.” The judge then went on to talk more about his memory of the case before sentencing Thomas to 13 years in jail.
Attorney Geraldine Sweeney, an assistant public defender, wrote disparagingly about Judge Femia’s statement in the court petition: “Such a statement is both incredibly offensive and disturbing for several reasons. First, there is simply no place in a courtroom, or anywhere else, for that matter, where using the word ‘nigger’ is appropriate and acceptable. Perhaps even more disturbing, if that is possible, is the second portion of the statement where Judge Femia makes reference to God prevailing when the criminal defendant he was talking about drowned while trying to escape a robbery. Both statements were made while Judge Femia was on the bench in open court. Both statements were made while Mr. Thomas’ mother and defense counsel were in the courtroom. Both statements required trial counsel to immediately make a motion for Judge Femia to recuse himself from sentencing. Trial counsel’s failure to do so was clearly defective.”
At the time of the incident Judge Femia was reported as saying all he was doing was quoting someone else and that at the time of the original incident he was shocked at the foreman’s statements. But apparently he had regrets about the incident and he relayed those regrets to St. Mary’s County Circuit Court Judge Karen Abrams at a meeting. At that encounter Femia told Abrams that he had always intended to have the original 13-year sentence reduced to eight years.
The Petition for Post Conviction relief, which included a request for a new trial by another judge, was withdrawn in July and instead Judge Abrams held a hearing Aug. 27 to reconsider Thomas’ sentencing based on Judge Femia’s desires. At that hearing Thomas’ sentence was reduced from 13 years to eight years. The clock on that sentence began to tick on Feb. 10, 2012.
Judge Abrams told Thomas, “I hope when you come out you will be in a good, positive direction.”
At the sentence reconsideration hearing, Deputy State’s Attorney Ted Weiner said the state had made an attempt to contact the four victims and three had been reached about testifying at the hearing, but none of them showed up. The state did not object to the sentence reduction.
Thomas was represented at the Aug. 27 hearing by Waldorf attorney Thomas Pyles.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com