Profile of Judge Sidney R. Thomas
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Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Appointed by: President Clinton, 1996
Born: August 14, 1953 in Bozeman, Montana
Education: BA, Montana State 1975; JD, University of Montana
1978
Law Practice: Bellingham, Longo & Mather, P.C.
Judicial Appointments: Ninth Circuit (1996-present)
Opinions Reported in Appellate Decisions Noted:
Additional Sources of Information:
Comments from Visitors to the Appellate Counsellor Home Page:
- Carolyn Flores (2/6/00)
- Re: Whaley v. Thompson, CA Nos. 98-36133; 98-36160, after repeatedly
questioning the state’s attorney at oral argument about the complaining
witness’s false and perjurious testimony casting doubt on her entire story, Judge
Thomas along with Judge Ferdinand Fernandez and Judge Margaret Morrow ruled that the word
of a woman who is a proven liar with a motive to lie is sufficient in and of itself to
uphold a guilty verdict. Over half this woman’s story has been shown to be false,
such that one of two of Mr. Whaley’s charges has been vacated by a lower court. Les
Whaley’s accuser has a ten-year history of prostitution and drug addiction as well as
a theft II conviction on her record at the time of her accusation. The records (withheld
by the prosecutor at trial) reveal that she sought under false pretenses to gain several
thousand dollars in victims' compensation pay to cover medical bills entirely unrelated to
her encounter with Mr. Whaley. Not a shred of evidence existed to prove that any of what
the accuser stated occurred ever occurred; the prosecutor in his closing argument stated
the whole case boiled down to believing or not believing the accuser. Les Whaley was
convicted on accusation alone. If a man wrongly convicted of rape on accusation alone is
not able to obtain justice under these circumstances, then what man possibly could? What
would it take to satisfy Judge Thomas that Leslie Whaley’s accuser is not credible?
- Anonymous (3/13/00)
- It would be unfortunate to draw any adverse conclusions about the
abilities of Judge Thomas from the note submitted by Carolyn Flores, relative to Whaley v.
Thompson. In St. of Oregon vs. Leslie Whaley, the underlying Oregon sexual assault case,
Mr. Whaley went to trial and insisted on acting as his own attorney. He attempted to
establish his innocence of the charged offense by calling as witnesses women he had dated
that he had NOT sexually assaulted. This opened the door to several adverse witnesses,
including a woman who testified about being forcibly raped by Mr. Whaley while she was a
minor (he was also convicted in that case). The victim was a compelling witness, and there
was substantial evidence that supported her version of the events.
- Caroly Flores (7/5/00)
- Dear Anonymous: your post contains several factual errors. Mr. Whaley did not
voluntarily represent himself - he was forced to make the Hobson’s choice, having to
decide between incompetent counsel and no counsel; he has never forcibly raped anyone (the
previous offense of which you speak was a statutory offense, entirely nonviolent and
nonforcible); he did not call any adverse witnesses - the only adverse witness, other than
the woman involved in the statutory incident, was his disgrunted ex-wife who had an
interest in seeing him go to prison; he was not convicted of the statutory offense, rather
he plead guilty; what matters is how the accuser’s testimony holds up NOW and, in
light of her perjury and her motive that have come to light since the time of the trial,
it certainly cannot be considered *compelling* at this point in time; and, contrary to
your assertion that there was “substantial evidence” to support the complaining
witness’s version of event, the fact remains that not a shred of evidence has ever
existed to support any of what she claimed occurred - Les Whaley was convicted on
accusation alone. To view the transcript of oral argument, attorney pleadings from both
sides, and all relevant documents and exhibits, visit http://www.leswhaley.org and
http://www.leswhaley.org/itlwc.html and get the complete facts on this case.
- Anonymous (8/2/00)
- I watched Judge Thomas in oral argument on four cases recently. He is very smart and was
very well prepared for the arguments. He is also pleasant and polite.
- Carolyn Flores (3/13/01)
- Regarding Judge Thomas's opinion in the Whaley v. Thompson case cited
above, it is of note that the website, formerly http://www.leswhaley.org,
now http://www.spiritone.com/~law,
was closed down upon Mr. Whaley's release to parole in August of 2000. This
was done due to threats against Mr. Whaley by officials in the state where
he lives. The very acts that Judge Thomas condoned in his ridiculous ruling
are in fact so bad that the government doesn't want them exposed, and has
threatened Mr. Whaley with revocation of his parole and reimprisonment
should the site and it's contents continue to be made available on the
Internet.
Therefore, we are unfortunately unable to bring you the facts of Mr.
Whaley's case at this time. However, in the event that Mr. Whaley's parole
is revoked, the site and domain name will be fully reinstated, and you will
be able to make up your own mind about whether or not Judge Thomas ruled
properly in this case.
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