Politician: Permission to Paddle

A prominent politician testified in the sexual abuse trial of former Circuit Court Judge Herman Thomas that Thomas asked her permission to paddle her son. The son who we are identifying only as Accuser 7, had become involved with marijuana and drugs, arrested several times and landed in Thomas' court. She also said she talked with Thomas on a few occasions about getting help for her son to get him on the right path.

Defense attorney Jeff Deen cross-examined the mother and asked her if she had not called Thomas perhaps as many as 30 or 40 times while her son was facing his legal troubles. She denied that saying she only talked to Thomas on occassion, and never used her position to gain favors for her son or anyone else. She said she looked to Thomas as a male mentor for her son. Her husband passed away in 1996.

Accuser 7, a federal inmate who is incarcerated at a facility in Forest City, Ark., testified that he was visited in Metro Jail by Thomas on several occassions. He said Thomas had even picked him up from jail and taken the accuser to the accuser's home. He also told the jury that one time, at about nine o'clock at night, Thomas picked him up from the jail and took him to the judge's office at Government Plaza. The accuser said Thomas told him too 'Drop'em' meaning his pants and underwear, and bend across a desk in a small office next to the former judge's main chambers. Accuser 7 said he was struck 5 to 8 times with a belt and collapsed onto the desk.

Defense attorney's asked Accuser 7 if it was true that during transit on his federal incarceration to Mobile to testify in a Grand Jury concerning the emerging allegations against Thomas, that he told other inmates he was going to tell them anything they wanted to hear about Judge Thomas. He denied that. Attorney Jeff Deen also asked if the accuser was holding a grudge against Thomas since Thomas denied the accuser's motion to serve his state and federal sentences concurrently. He denied that as well.

Earlier in the day the jury heard from two more Accusers we identify as numbers 5 and 6. Accuser 6 demonstrated on the witness stand how Thomas made him bend over a desk and that he was struck with a paddle several times. The accuser said Thomas told him, "You been bad and you need a whooping."

The trial is expected to resume at 9 am on Friday.

News 5's Tiffany Craig will be covering the trial on Friday and tweeting from inside the courtroom. Follow Tiffany's tweets at twitter.