Court Judge Mark Thompson Back On Bench After Pleading Guilty To Weapons Charge

[Ohio Joe]

Summit County District Court Judge Mark Thompson returned to the bench in January, days after resolving a felony complaint with a plea deal.

Thompson faced a charge of Felony Menacing in the same jurisdiction in which he previously presided over cases. Prior to the incident, Thompson was the Chief Judge in the 5th Judicial District.

District prosecutors file a felony complaint against Thompson following a weekend incident in July 2021 in which he threatened another person with a gun. The complaint described the weapon as an AR-15 style rifle and Thompson actions as having placed another person in fear of serious bodily injury.

He was placed on planned paid time off in October, according to the Summit Daily.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/court-judge-mark-thompson-back-on-bench-after-pleading-guilty-to-weapons-charge/ar-AAU4NDT?ocid=msedgntp

WTF? How does that work?

[crickets]

1. He threatened his own stepson with an AR-15,

but anger management classes make it all okay? Currently no longer hearing criminal cases - so what is he doing?

Presiding over civil cases instead. Pleading guilty lowered his original charge from felony menacing to disorderly conduct.

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/10/20/judge-mark-thompson-ar-15-felony-menacing/

Menacing with a real or simulated weapon is a Class 5 felony, and is typically punished with one to three years in prison, followed by parole, according to the state’s sentencing guidelines.

People commit felony menacing if they purposely make someone fear being seriously injured and if, while doing so, they either use a deadly weapon or something that looks like a weapon, or tell the victim they are armed with a deadly weapon, according to state law. [snip]

Court records in the case were initially kept secret at the request of Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum, who said in a filing that secrecy was necessary in part because Thompson was a “prominent member of the Summit County community and a public official” and because publicly revealing details of the case “could jeopardize the ongoing investigation and/or interfere with the rights of the defendant, including irreversible harm to reputation.”

He got paid time off from October to January, 12 months unsupervised probation, and fines. That's it. He was never arrested. Wow.