Drug Use and Legal Woes

Substance abuse often results in legal issues, as one Tennessee judge found, but there is help and it’s not too late to turn things around.

Even those who are charged with upholding the law are not immune to disease of addiction. A recent story of a Tennessee judge who battled prescription drug addiction shows just how devastating substance abuse can be to a career and a person’s character. It also highlights the legal troubles that are often a side effect of severe substance abuse.

Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, 64, was reportedly so addicted to prescription drugs during his final two years on the bench, that he was having sex and buying pills during courtroom breaks, at times purchasing from convicts he had previously sentenced, an investigation found.

The Associated Press reports that many people had no idea the judge had a problem until he stepped down from the bench and pleaded guilty in March 2011 to a single count of official misconduct. Once his problem came to light, though, his behavior called into question many of the cases he presided over, including one of Knoxville's most notorious murders.

It took months for the true extent of Baumgartner’s problem to be revealed. In the wake of the scandal, another judge has already tossed out the convictions from the high-profile murder case and ordered new trials. Other defendants are hoping for a similar outcome, and bids for new trials from the many people convicted in Baumgartner's court could overwhelm the criminal justice system in Knox County, Tennessee's third-largest county with more than 400,000 residents. It's not clear exactly how many convictions are at risk.

Baumgartner had been a criminal court judge in Knoxville since 1992, but a bout of pancreatitis caused by his chronic alcoholism led to the painkiller problem.  Soon, the judge was seeking oxycodone, hydrocodone and generic Xanax and Valium from multiple doctors. When the prescriptions weren't enough, he turned to convicts he had punished – and their friends.

Baumgartner left the bench to seek drug treatment before pleading guilty to misconduct. A special judge handed Baumgartner a sentence that allowed him to wipe the felony conviction off his record if he stayed out of trouble. The sentence also allowed Baumgartner to avoid jail time and keep his pension. The judge who sentenced Baumgartner has since said he would have come down harder on him had he known the full details of the criminal investigation. The U.S. attorney's office is also investigating.

It’s an extreme case, but many who battle addiction find themselves on the wrong side of the law. While not everyone with a substance abuse problem has legal issues, alcoholism often leads to drunk driving and drug abuse requires participants to seek illegal substances, a process that may include additional crimes. As the addiction escalates, individuals who were once upstanding citizens may find themselves doing things they never would have imagined doing while sober. Then, once a decision is made to seek treatment, there are often legal obstacles that need to be overcome as well.

Fortunately, these issues aren’t insurmountable. Many drug treatment programs will even work with the court system to show that an individual is making positive changes, which goes a long way toward resolving legal issues. The key is to stop before there is bigger trouble and get help now.

Substance Abuse Help at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with drug or alcohol addiction, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.