i posted a video about a month ago titled west virginia judge pulls gun then it gets weird
this was about west virginia circuit court judge david hummel i'll put the link in the description
to that first video that video involved recent allegations from a lawyer that a judge had pulled
out a gun in the courtroom while on the bench during a hearing displaying it and setting it
on the bench pointed in the direction of the lawyer who ultimately complained about it
sparking investigations media reports and threats of a lawsuit there's been a few updates in the
reporting since the first video there was an insinuation that video footage existed in this
case so now that's been confirmed and some footage has been released pursuant to a foia request
and i have it and i'll show it to you but there's been a few other updates as well the daily beast
has been reporting on this as has been the west virginia record in their august 18th story the
daily beast reported that they obtained the video which they had previously hinted existed and then
it confirms via the court's surveillance footage that judge hummel indeed displayed a pistol in his
courtroom in wetzel county west virginia during a hearing on march 12th this was a hearing involving
controversial litigation pertaining to gas and oil rights the case pitted gas and oil companies and
their texas lawyers against local landowners in their original july 16th story the beast alleged
that judge hummel quote whipped out his handgun waved it in the air and left it on the bench with
the barrel pointed directly at the corporate lawyers who had irritated him the allegations
had been provided to them by lauren varnedo the texas lawyer who had been standing at the podium
allegedly when the incident occurred according to the beast reporter this is judge hummel's initial
phone response to these allegations there is no incident i absolutely categorically deny
i had a gun that day in the courtroom he said it was just me and the attorneys i
had no reason to have a firearm that day i've never shown a gun in my courtroom to anybody
i don't want them to know that i have it i do not display my firearm at any time during
trial then the reporter wrote minutes later the judge called back and said well he now recalled
having a holstered handgun on him beneath his robe during the trial the previous week he maintained
however that it never came out of the holster during the trial then the judge apparently called
back a third time according to the report now acknowledging that he showed something to the
attorneys that day in the courtroom but it wasn't a gun he claimed it was a small red first aid kit
so the local prosecuting attorney timothy hot has already responded to the existence of this footage
he stated in a letter to the complaining attorney that he has reviewed the video and that he sees no
criminal wrongdoing quote what i saw in the videotape was judge hummel displaying his firearm
for a few seconds it did not appear to me that he pointed his firearm at the complaining lawyer
or threatened the complaining lawyer with the same the prosecuting attorney at the very least
here has represented that he has concluded that a gun was indeed displayed by the judge
in the courtroom during a hearing this of course contradicts the judge's own statements to the
reporter assuming that he actually made them in a follow-up letter to varnado the prosecutor
further remarked that he found nothing in that footage that constitutes a violation of west
virginia's criminal code and that he didn't see or hear a threat nor did he observe the judge
directly point the firearm at varnado so let's take a look at the actual surveillance footage
released by the daily beast judge hummel is seen starting the court session around 9 00 am
one minute into the hearing he has seen briefly waving it in the air as he speaks to the lawyers
what do you think are the allegations confirmed let's review the initial allegations the initial
daily beast story alleged that judge hummel whipped out his handgun waved it in the air and
left it on the bench with the barrel pointed directly at the corporate lawyers who had
irritated him remember judge hummel according to the original story repeatedly told the daily beast
quote it never happened they said that when they reached the judge by phone he initially professed
shock hit the allegations the footage corroborates the complaining attorney's initial allegations to
some extent it shows him pull out the gun and wave it around for a second and then it set it on the
bench and then is it pointed in the direction of the attorney it's hard to tell from the video but
it doesn't look like it to me at least not in this segment of footage to the extent that the
judge has indeed denied displaying the gun in the courtroom the footage appears to completely
contradict his recollection of the events now whether or not a crime was committed by the judge
judicial ethics violations may have been committed and an investigation by the judicial disciplinary
authorities is ongoing the daily beast quoted rutgers law school professor ronald chin who also
criticized a local prosecutor for quote trying to run interference for the judge this is what
he said whether what he did would have satisfied the criminal definition of brandishing or not
seems to be besides the point to make contact with the potential he's talking about the
prosecutor here to make contact with a potential witness but one who has not even complained
and essentially try to waver off does not seem to be appropriate after the first story was published
lauren varnedo received a letter from attorneys representing the judge that suggested he might be
suing her personally for speaking out about what happened they've issued a cease and desist letter
but to my knowledge no lawsuit has been filed now the local media reports the west virginia record
has reported on other issues now that have come out surrounding judge hummel including accusing
children of lying in a neglect case as well as allegations he may have violated state law and
personally obtaining oil and gas interest so in a recent state supreme court opinion judge hummel
was chastised by the court for improper behavior by conducting interviews of children wherein he
accused a seven-year-old of lying reducing the child to tears and then according to the court
appears to have coerced an even younger child to try to get the child to implicate the parent in a
plot to fabricate allegations of abuse in another recent story it was reported that judge hummel had
obtained oil and gas interests while serving as a court official and state law expressly prohibits
court officials from obtaining rights to minerals from tax deeds and then he presided over oil and
this oil and gas dispute involving varnado in which he apparently failed to disclose any
interests and also failed to recuse himself so the judicial disciplinary investigation
here is ongoing and i have no doubt there will be another update to come legitimacy is the currency
of the courts setting aside the issues of whether prosecutors are going to criminally charge their
fellow elected officials evidence that a sitting judge has lied about allegations of misconduct
call into question thousands of pending and former court cases involving that judge this needs to be
resolved we'll just have to wait and see the results of the pending judicial disciplinary
investigation as always thanks for watching you'll find more information at the link below to my blog
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