CAMP PROBE TO DETERMINE IF HIS RULINGS INFLUENCED BY DRUG USE

The U.S. Justice Department is looking into the judicial actions of
former Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Camp to determine if his past
rulings were influenced by his use of drugs or by racial bias, U.S.
Attorney Sally Quillian Yates announced Thursday.

Yates' Atlanta office was recused from the Camp prosecution -- which
resulted in Camp's Nov. 19 resignation after pleading guilty to three
criminal charges. The initial prosecution and current investigation
is under the auspices of the Public Integrity Section of the U.S.
Justice Department.

Camp resigned his judgeship on Nov. 19 after pleading guilty to three
criminal charges that arose after his arrest on Oct. 1. Arlington
Christian School

Camp was arrested after attempting to purchase drugs from an
undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent posing as a drug
dealer. At the time of his arrest, Camp was in the company of an
exotic dancer he had allegedly met months earlier at an Atlanta strip club.

Yates said that while her office was not heading the investigation,
it receives all investigative information, and she felt it was
important to disclose information discovered so far.

"We believe that the prompt disclosure of any arguably significant
information is critical to our mission of fair and impartial
justice," Yates said in a written statement. "Consequently, we are
providing information beyond that which we are legally required to disclose."

The disclosure regarding the investigation into whether or not Camp's
judicial decisions were affected by his use of drugs or alcohol says,
in part, "While Camp's use of these drugs was not limited to
weekends, he denies that he used any of these drugs contemporaneously
with any court business, and we are currently unaware of any
demonstrable evidence to the contrary. We have not discovered
evidence of illegal drug use prior to May 2010."

Charges of potential racial bias affecting Camp's judicial decisions
are more numerous.

Yates' statement regarding the question of bias begins by saying,
"Witness 1, (the dancer) who became acquainted with and developed a
personal relationship with Camp in approximately May of 2010 stated
that Camp disliked a particular individual ("Individual A"), who was
African-American and who also had a personal relationship with Witness 1."

According to Witness 1, Camp told her that when African-American men
appeared before him, he had a difficult time adjudicating their cases
and specifically determining their sentences because he could not
differentiate them from Individual A in light of his feelings about
Individual A, according to Yates' statement. Witness 1 also stated
that she had recorded this conversation but was unable to find the recording.

Another case involves allegations that Camp said a female defendant
reminded him of Witness 1 (the exotic dancer) so "he gave her a
12-month sentence instead of the suggested 60-month sentence."

The report goes on to say, "We identified a case during this period
where Camp sentenced a white female defendant to a 15-month prison
term instead of the 30-37 months recommended by the Sentencing
Guidelines. There is also evidence that confirms that Camp consulted
with Witness 1 (the exotic dancer) during the relevant period
regarding the sentences that he imposed."

Yates says in the statement that when confronted by the allegations,
Camp "said that he did not make the statements attributed to him by
either Witness 1 or Witness 2. He further denied ever taking any
judicial action based on racial bias."

Yates concludes by saying, "Our only interest in any case that we
have prosecuted before Camp is ensuring that justice is served. To
that end, given these disturbing facts and allegations, this office
will evaluate any criminal case adjudicated by Camp for impairment or
bias that a defendant requests that we review. Furthermore, from May
of 2010 forward, there is evidence that Camp's judicial
decision-making process may have been impacted by bias and/or
impairment and it has been established that he was involved in
criminal conduct during this period. Therefore, we will not object to
a defendant's request for a resentencing in any case in which the
defendant was sentenced during this time."

In proceedings Nov. 19 before U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Hogan at
the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in Atlanta, Camp, 67, pleaded
guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting the unlawful
possession of controlled substances and misdemeanor counts of
unlawful possession of controlled substances, and one count of
conversion of government property. The conversion of government
property charge arose when Camp gave his government-supplied laptop
computer to the stripper.

The investigation announced Thursday by U.S. Attorney Yates focuses
on Camp's use of drugs at a time when he was still an active judge.
Camp's plea agreement also required his resignation.

As part of his guilty plea, Camp admitted that between May 2010 and
Oct. 1, 2010, he unlawfully possessed and used cocaine, marijuana and
Roxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance.

Camp also admitted to giving an individual whom he knew had a prior
felony drug conviction money to purchase cocaine, Roxycodone and
marijuana. Camp admitted that he unlawfully gave the individual a
U.S. District Court laptop computer for her personal use.

At the time of his arrest, Camp had two firearms in the front seat of
his vehicle, but no firearms charges were pursued.

Court papers filed with the plea say that count one (aiding and
abetting the unlawful possession of controlled substances) carries a
mandatory minimum sentence of 15 days imprisonment, a maximum
sentence of two years in jail and a fine of $2,500, plus costs of
investigation and prosecution. Count two (unlawful possession of
controlled substances) carries a mandatory minimum sentence of a fine
of $1,000 and a maximum sentence of one year imprisonment, a fine of
$100,000 and a one-year period of supervised release.

Count three (conversion of government property) carries a maximum
sentence of one year imprisonment, a fine of $100,000 and one year of
supervised release. Camp is expected to be sentenced March 4 at 11
a.m. after a pre-sentencing investigation has been concluded.

During his judicial career Camp presided over numerous high-profile
cases -- some involving drugs -- before taking on a lesser caseload in 2008.

A statement issued by Camp's attorneys following his plea said, in
part, "Judge Camp has had a distinguished career in public service,
including more than twenty years as a district judge, and he deeply
regrets the recent circumstances that have brought him to this day.

"Judge Camp voluntarily undertook a complete professional evaluation
last month in hopes of explaining the uncharacteristic nature of his
actions. Testing results revealed no issues with controlled substances.

"In addition, those who examined him concluded his conduct did not
affect his judicial decisions in any way.

"Judge Camp will spend the coming months with his family, to address
the harm of recent events upon those close to him, upon his
colleagues and upon the citizens of Georgia. Judge Camp holds himself
accountable for his personal actions and will strive to better
understand and overcome the causes of his poor judgment."

The statement also said Camp hopes to make amends to the community
and has asked for "your prayers, patience and privacy for his family."

Camp met the confidential informant, who had recently begun
cooperating with the FBI, at the Goldrush Showbar in Atlanta in early
2010. He soon began paying her for sex and buying cocaine from her,
according to an affidavit filed after Camp's arrest.

The affidavit said that in June 2010, Camp followed the informant to
a drug dealer in Marietta to buy Roxycodone. He was also recorded in
a wiretapped telephone call on Sept. 28 talking with her about
getting together over the weekend to split more pills and cocaine
with her, according to the affidavit.

Camp showed up at a Publix parking lot in northeast Atlanta around
7:15 p.m. on Oct. 1 to meet with an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer.

When the informant told her she was worried about his safety, Camp
said, "I not only have my little pistol, I've got my big pistol, so,
uh, we'll take care of any problems that come up," according to the affidavit.

Camp handed over $160 in cash to pay for the drugs around 7:35 p.m.
Ten minutes later, authorities arrested the judge and seized the two
guns from the front seat of his vehicle.

Camp was appointed to the bench in 1987. He was a Newnan attorney
with the law firm of Glover and Davis from 1975 until his
confirmation by the U.S. Senate in April 1988.

Statement of U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates

The following is the statement released Thursday by U.S. Attorney
Sally Quillian Yates regarding the investigation into the manner in
which former Senior District Judge Jack Camp performed his duties.

The United States Attorney's Office has one responsibility -- to seek
justice. To fulfill that responsibility, we are today disclosing
information that we have recently discovered to the public as well as
to defendants who may be affected by this information.

On November 19, 2010, former Senior District Judge Jack T. Camp
("Camp") pleaded guilty to aiding a felon in possessing illegal
drugs, possessing illegal drugs, and converting government property
to private use. Our office is recused from the prosecution of Camp,
which is being handled by the Public Integrity Section of the
Department of Justice. While we are recused from the prosecution, we
were concerned that there may be facts underlying the charges or
learned during the course of the investigation that call into
question the manner in which Camp performed his judicial duties and
should be disclosed to defendants prosecuted before Camp.
Consequently, we requested that Public Integrity share with our
office all information potentially relevant to Camp's discharge of
his judicial duties, and we further investigated to determine whether
there was additional information that should be disclosed.

We have since reviewed the information provided by Public Integrity
and interviewed individuals with close connections to the criminal
allegations, including Camp. We believe that the prompt disclosure of
any arguably significant information is critical to our mission of
fair and impartial justice. Consequently, we are providing
information beyond that which we are legally required to disclose.
Although our investigation is ongoing, we have identified the
following information that we believe should be disclosed immediately:

1. POTENTIAL IMPAIRMENT

According to witnesses and Camp, from approximately May 2010 until
the end of September 2010, on a roughly biweekly basis, Camp engaged
in the illegal use of controlled substances. During this
approximately four-month period, Camp consumed marijuana, powder
cocaine, Xanax, Roxicontin, and other unknown prescription
painkillers. Both Camp and the individual with whom he consumed the
drugs, ("Witness 1"), have stated that these drugs were not consumed
together, although some may have been taken while Camp was also
consuming alcohol. While Camp's use of these drugs was not limited to
weekends, he denies that he used any of these drugs contemporaneously
with any court business, and we are currently unaware of any
demonstrable evidence to the contrary. We have not discovered
evidence of illegal drug use prior to May 2010.

2. POTENTIAL BIAS

A second area of inquiry pertains to witnesses' statements relating
to potential racial bias. Witness 1, who became acquainted with and
developed a personal relationship with Camp in approximately May of
2010, stated that Camp disliked a particular individual ("Individual
A"), who was African-American and who also had a personal
relationship with Witness 1. According to Witness 1, Camp told her
that when African-American men appeared before him, he had a
difficult time adjudicating their cases and specifically determining
their sentences because he could not differentiate them from
Individual A in light of his feelings about Individual A. Witness 1
also stated that she had recorded this conversation but was unable to
find the recording. Witness 1 also said that Camp told her about a
particular case in his court involving an African-American male and
white female co-defendant in which Camp had sentenced the male
defendant to 30 to 40 years because the African-American male had a
personal relationship with the white female co-defendant and it
reminded him of the relationship between Witness 1, who is white, and
Individual A. Based upon our review of the information provided by
the Clerk of Court and our own best efforts to date, we have
identified a case before Camp for resentencing during the relevant
time that is similar to some aspects of the facts identified by
Witness 1, but the Court did not actually impose a new sentence. Our
efforts to make a more conclusive determination are continuing.

Finally, Witness 1 said that Camp described a case where a female
defendant reminded Camp of Witness 1, so he gave her a 12-month
sentence instead of the suggested 60-month sentence. We identified a
case during this period where Camp sentenced a white female defendant
to a 15-month prison term instead of the 30-37 months recommended by
the Sentencing Guidelines. There is also evidence that confirms that
Camp consulted with Witness 1 during the relevant period regarding
the sentences that he imposed.

A second witness ("Witness 2") stated that, during a contentious
telephone conversation about Witness 1's lease, Camp used a racial
epithet to refer to Individual A. A colleague of Witness 2, who
overheard a portion of the conversation, said that she did not hear
Camp use any racial epithet.

When our office confronted Camp with the above allegations, he said
that he did not make the statements attributed to him by either
Witness 1 or Witness 2. He further denied ever taking any judicial
action based on racial bias.

Our review of information provided by the Clerk of Court indicates
that the only criminal trial over which Camp presided from May 2010
forward resulted in a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury. Our only
interest in any case that we have prosecuted before Camp is ensuring
that justice is served. To that end, given these disturbing facts and
allegations, this office will evaluate any criminal case adjudicated
by Camp for impairment or bias that a defendant requests that we
review. Furthermore, from May of 2010 forward, there is evidence that
Camp's judicial decision-making process may have been impacted by
bias and/or impairment and it has been established that he was
involved in criminal conduct during this period. Therefore, we will
not object to a defendant's request for a resentencing in any case in
which the defendant was sentenced during this time.

In addition to publicly releasing this information, we will provide
it individually to each defendant sentenced by Camp during 2010. Our
inquiry into this matter is ongoing, and if we identify additional
information that should be disclosed, we will provide that information as well.

We take very seriously a defendant's and the public's right to a
fair, impartial, and unimpaired jurist to administer justice.

In evaluating the information to be provided to defendants prosecuted
before Camp, we have taken a broad view and are providing the
information regardless of whether it has a legal impact on the cases
adjudicated before Camp. We are committed to doing everything within
our power to ensure that all defendants are treated with the fairness
and integrity guaranteed by our system of justice.