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Beyond the Gemstone Files |
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AUTHORSHIP ALPHA-1775 GEMSTONES A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z |
UPDATED
January 01, 2003 02:16 PM
Charles Galbreath was a Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge until he used court letterhead to write a promotional letter to Flynt, advocating oral sex in gutter terms. Recently he has been a Nashville comedian and political thorn in the side of the Tennessee establishment. He's been sued several times and even thrown in jail himself. Following are a few news clips covering his colorful career. Charles Galbreath, of Nashville, in handling a divorce case failed to preserve confidences of his client, accepted employment when his personal interests may have impaired his independent professional judgment, accepted employment when the interests of another client may have impaired his independent professional judgment, and communicated with one of adverse interest. The hearing panel concluded that he should be publicly censured. (http://www.putnampit.com/databases/tbpr/PublicCensure.html) Story last updated at 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18, 2000 http://www.oakridger.com/stories/071800/stt_0718000039.html Charles Galbreath, a 75-year-old former Court of Appeals Court judge, filed the lawsuit last year against Davidson County Circuit Judge Carol Solomon. Galbreath said he was falsely imprisoned for four hours after he argued with Solomon over whether he could use a tape recorder in her courtroom. The lawsuit claimed Solomon overstepped her authority by taking the recorder and sending Galbreath to jail. U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell said judges are immune from liability for judicial actions taken within their jurisdiction. Galbreath said in the lawsuit that he may have shown frustration and irritability in response to Solomon's "unlawful act" of seizing his tape recorder. But he said the judge "had no power to imprison (him) for simply attempting to correct her opinion as to the law." In September 1998, Galbreath was in Soloman's court to observe the criminal trial of an inner-city market owner and two employees charged with kidnapping an admitted shoplifter in a back room at the store. Galbreath represented the shoplifter in a civil damage lawsuit against the market owner. When a court officer said Soloman did not allow tape recorders in her courtroom, Galbreath produced a copy of a state law permitting lawyers "to use tape recorders as an aid in making notes" of court proceedings involving their clients. Galbreath threatened to sue Soloman when she had a court officer confiscate his tape recorder, and he refused to move when the judge summoned him to the bench to question him about whether he had been using the tape recorder in court. Galbreath said Monday that he tried a case before Soloman "a couple of weeks ago, and she was real nice." Another attorney, Joseph Thompson
Dickinson, Jr., was retained. He advised Moore to withdraw the case
without prejudice and refile it in state court. "It would be tried by a
Nashville jury, and Nashville juries hate Larry Flynt,” Dickinson
reportedly said. Wednesday, September 30, 1998 Lawyer lands in jail after argument with judge on Wednesday, September 30, 1998 Thes Associated Press NASHVILLE -- A Nashville lawyer was jailed
after refusing to hand over his tape recorder to a judge.
Charles Galbreath, a 73-year-old former Court of Appeals Judge
and state legislator, was charged with contempt of court and
sentenced to four hours in jail after arguing Tuesday with Davidson
County Circuit Court Judge Carol Soloman.
When Soloman saw Galbreath enter her courtroom with the recorder,
she told a court officer to seize the tape inside. Galbreath refused
to turn over the recorder and left the courtroom. He returned
moments later.
"Your court officer has just taken my property," he
told Soloman. "I want my property back, or I'm bringing a
lawsuit against you."
"Erase the tape," Soloman told court officer David
Whitworth.
"There's no tape in it," Galbreath said.
Soloman summoned Galbreath to the bench to question him about the
recorder, but he refused to answer her.
"I do not care to give evidence against myself," he
said.
Soloman then told her court officers to arrest Galbreath.
"He is being rude and loud," she said.
Soloman first said Galbreath could free himself with a $500 bond,
but decided a few minutes later to sentence him to four hours in
jail.
When he was released that afternoon, Galbreath chided Soloman,
saying she "needs to go to some kind of school for
judges."
The flamboyant Galbreath has had run-ins with many judges and
even sued the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1996 because they didn't
use him as a substitute justice in a case.
Galbreath was in Soloman's court for the sentencing of a
shopkeeper and two employees charged with assaulting and kidnapping
Galbreath's client.
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press
Retired appellate judge Charles Galbreath wants to know why the
state Supreme Court won't appoint him, like other retired judges, to
hear any cases.
"I wonder if it's because they just don't like me,"
said Galbreath, a political maverick who retired from the Court of
Criminal Appeals in 1978, after the state's old Judicial Standards
Commission tried to remove him from office.
Galbreath said, in a lawsuit filed yesterday in Davidson County
Chancery Court, that other retired judges routinely are appointed to
fill in for trial and appellate judges across the state when those
judges are ill or when their dockets become "congested."
But Galbreath, now a Nashville attorney, said his last judicial
appointment was in 1994, when he served on a special Supreme Court
panel hearing workers' compensation cases.
He said the current chief justice of the Supreme Court, Riley
Anderson, failed to respond last fall to letters asking why he never
gets appointed to hear any cases.
Galbreath said in the lawsuit that continued judicial work, which
could bring him an extra $25,000 a year, is part of the package of
retirement benefits to which all state judges are entitled.
Galbreath, 73, who served on the Court of Criminal Appeals for 10
years, receives a pension of almost $78,000 a year -- or 75% of the
salary of a working appellate judge.
He is one of a handful of retired judges still covered by a more
generous judicial pension plan than the one now in effect.
He also owns several businesses, including the Elliston Place
Soda Shop.
Anderson declined yesterday to comment on Galbreath's lawsuit.
State law gives the chief justice of the Supreme Court authority
to appoint retired judges to help out when he sees a need for them.
Galbreath said in his lawsuit that Anderson should make those
appointments "in an impartial manner . . . only on the basis of
equality, due process, eligibility and merit."
Galbreath filed a similar lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 1996,
but he said yesterday that it was dismissed when a federal judge
ruled that it was barred by a one-year statute of limitations.
The suit he filed yesterday deals only with the last year, and
asks for a court order requiring Anderson to appoint him to hear
enough cases to make up for appointments he has missed.
Galbreath angered much of the state's judicial establishment in
the 1970s, when he socialized with Hustler magazine publisher
Larry Flynt and sent Hustler a letter, on Court of Criminal
Appeals stationery, lamenting the fact that oral sex -- which he
described in crude language -- was still a crime in Tennessee. Davidson: Judge asked not to move rifle linked to RayBy Tennessean Staff and News Services - 1/9/99http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/01/09/briefs09.shtml The U.S. Justice Department has asked a Nashville judge not to move a rifle linked to James Earl Ray until federal investigators complete a new inquiry into the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jerry Ray, who is executor of his brother's estate, has filed a claim for the rifle in Davidson County Probate Court. He says it could be worth as much as $200,000 to collectors. But the U.S. attorney's office filed a motion Wednesday in Probate Court, asking Judge Frank Clement Jr. to leave the weapon where it is -- in the custody of the Shelby County Criminal Court clerk in Memphis -- until the Justice Department concludes its probe into allegations that have surfaced in recent years about King's assassination in Memphis in 1968. Jerry Ray's lawyer, Charles Galbreath, told Clement in a brief hearing yesterday morning, that he has no objection to the Justice Department request. Assistant State Attorney General Diane Dycus told Clement yesterday that the rifle is not part of James Earl Ray's estate, but belongs to the state. Ray initially pleaded guilty to assassinating King; he was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Three days later, he began trying to withdraw the plea, and he maintained for three decades that he was the innocent victim of a conspiracy. Ray died April 23 at age 70 in a Nashville hospital of liver
disease.
-- Kirk Loggins
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