CREDIBILITY QUESTION OF TOP CONCERN

TRAVERSE CITY - When college student Albert C. Greiner appeared before
District Judge Thomas Gilbert in October to be sentenced for use of
marijuana, he expected to spend a few days in jail.

The 21-day sentence Greiner received seemed fair, he said, because he knew
the judge would take into account his many previous brushes with the law.

In light of Gilbert's own admitted marijuana use, however, Greiner said
Gilbert's refusal to grant him special school release to complete class
assignments now strikes him as unreasonable.

"I wish you'd thought of that before you committed the crime, OK?" Gilbert
told him.

Since news broke that the judge twice puffed from a marijuana cigarette at a
Rolling Stones concert in Detroit on Oct. 12, Gilbert has taken leave from
the bench and enrolled in rehabilitation program for alcohol abuse.

Some in the criminal justice community wonder whether Gilbert has
irrevocably damaged his moral authority to be a judge.

"If I had ever done something this dumb I would not be able to go out there
and sit on the bench and look someone in the face and sentence them,"
Circuit Judge Philip Rodgers said.

Gilbert's biggest trouble stems from his acknowledgment that he broke the
law, Rodgers said. As someone whose job it is to administer the law, it
places him in the position of being a hypocrite.

"The difficulty that Judge Gilbert faces is that you cannot effectively
perform as a judge without having both integrity and credibility," he said.
"The act of consuming marijuana in a public place is a formidable, if not
fatal, blow to that credibility."

Rodgers and others say that the effectiveness of a sentence is not measured
merely by the number of days a defendant spends behind bars or the
conditions assigned to them while on probation.

Judges must be able to impress upon defendants that they must take
responsibility for their actions.

"You have credibility with felons, and that may seem odd to the community,
but that develops over time," Rodgers said. "You are trying to connect with
these people in a fashion you hope they can understand."

Part of that credibility comes from what offenders say to each other about
their experiences standing before a judge. The great majority don't agree
with the sentences they receive for their crimes, Rodgers said, but they
understand why they were sentenced for their crimes.

"You can't drive down crime or control the rate of crime if you don't have a
credible justice system," said Dennis LaBelle, Grand Traverse County's
prosecutor. "That's really what he's done, he's called into question the
standards that we've lived under for years."

Public officials live by different standards than the average citizen,
LaBelle said. When a person goes into public service, especially in the
criminal justice system, they understand that they have accepted a duty to
live by higher standards.

"We have a special obligation and a special duty toward the public because
these jobs are so important," LaBelle said.

Anyone familiar with the courts understands a long-standing and well-known
truth - that when a judge takes the bench, their life must change.

Many no longer visit bars. Circles of friends become smaller. Rodgers said
he withdrew from the Chamber of Commerce - where he was a member for years
and had friends - because, as a judge who would hear many cases related to
business, he could not risk the appearance that his judgment could be
compromised.

"You must be willing to act as an example to the community," Rodgers said.

For many public officials, Gilbert's transgression is merely an occasion for
sadness.

"He has been a friend, he is my friend, he's going to continue to be my
friend," said Traverse City Police Chief Ralph Soffredine. "He used bad
judgment. I think he just made a mistake."

Soffredine sees Gilbert's mistake as bad news for all local public
officials.

"When one of us screws up, all of us screw up. They paint us with a large
brush," he said. "The court's a little bit different - they live in maybe a
brighter glass house than the rest of us."

Soffredine believes Gilbert's fate should be decided by the people.
Gilbert's term expires in two years.

Bob Baker, lead counselor for Munson Medical Center's intensive outpatient
evening program for substance abuse, does not believe Gilbert's use of
marijuana will have a negative impact on the court.

"The people who would have diminished respect for the court already had
diminished respect for the court, and this just becomes further ammunition,"
said Baker, who also serves as an adviser to the district court's drug court
program.

Rather, the incident and the ensuing outcry should serve as a demonstration
of just how serious drug abuse can be.

"It's not like he's being excused," Baker said. "There are huge consequences
that he's experienced, so it's not like everybody's just pooh-poohed it."

Baker and others also praised Gilbert for not attempting to cover up what he
did. Baker said he hoped the experience would lead Gilbert to make some
behavior changes.

Many have responded with a mixture of concern for Gilbert and concern for
the court. Attorney Michael Stepka, president of the Grand Traverse Antrim
Leelanau Bar Association, believes concern for the court's integrity is most
important.

"I'm shocked that this has occurred and I feel terrible for Tom and his
family and for the court," Stepka said. But, he stressed: "The integrity of
the system is something that has to prevail. It's the most important thing
at this point."

Like others, Stepka would not say whether he believed Gilbert should resign,
but he said he is concerned whether Gilbert can restore his reputation.

"That's hard to recover from and that's hard, I think, to repair," Stepka
said.

Paul Jarboe, an attorney who often works in district court, had similar
thoughts.

"Our jobs are hard enough," Jarboe said. "If the judgment of the judge is
called into question the effectiveness of the court suffers."

Gregory Justis, a Petoskey defense attorney who has practiced in front of
Gilbert in Antrim County, defended Gilbert, saying he believes Gilbert's
transgression amounts to less damage to the court than what is being made of
it.

"I am rooting for him to not resign, stay on the bench and get past this
thing because we need more judges like him," Justis said.

Justis believes a trend toward more conservative judicial decisions has been
taking place in northern Michigan and that criminal defendants are finding
it increasingly difficult to get fair, unbiased hearings or trials.

Gilbert has received some unwelcome support from proponents of marijuana
legalization, who argue the event signals a need for decriminalization of
the drug.

Bruce Cain, whose Internet moniker is Professor Hemp, published a drug
policy magazine for almost 10 years.

"You would hope that having been through this it would temper his
disposition to really penalize people for this," Cain said.

But Cain was skeptical upon learning that Gilbert planned to enter an
alcohol abuse program.

While at the Rolling Stones concert Gilbert "wasn't thinking what a terrible
person he was for smoking a joint," he said. "If he wouldn't have gotten
caught he would never have come up with this silly story about needing
rehabilitation."