Episode 10 "Cigar Aficionado Judge"

In Episode 10 Judge Small shares why our podcast is called The Smokin' Gavel Podcast and Arnie Adams discovers the legal system doesn't always provide true justice.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

The Smoke and Gabble Podcast is now in session. I'm retired Judge Chip Small, who will preside over this podcast along with my bailiff, Madeline Rose. We welcome you and ask you to join us as we take a look at our justice system from a unique, candid, and inside view. Maddie, what's on the docket today?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Your Honor, today you'll explain why our podcast is called the Smoke and Gavel Podchemist, and we'll continue to read True Justice. So, Judge, we know you love cigars. Isn't that why it's the smoke and gamble podcast? More importantly, why in the world do you smoke cigars?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Well, we'll get to that, but I can ask you, why in the world do you smoke cigarettes?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

For a little vacation.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

You take long vacations with your cigars, and I take small little incremental vacations with my cigarettes. And plus I smoke blue camel blues, which used to be the doctor's cigarette that they recommended back in the last what, four minutes? I don't know. There used to be some sort of ads though. I used to see them. That's the the number one Yeah, I don't know. At least I don't vape, okay? At least we don't vape.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

All right. Well, my love of cigars all started with my uncle Eddie. He was a Chicago firefighter, and he retired and moved to Tucson, Arizona. The last memory I have of him is in his backyard in Tucson when I was a little kid smoking his white owl uh cigars, and they smelled great. And that's what started it all. Now I didn't start really smoking anything until I got to college. Uh and then uh I started smoking a pipe because of course if you're in college, you gotta look cool so you smoke a pipe. And I really like Bork and Riff tobacco. Uh and once in a while I'd get a box of White Owl Demi Tips just so I could enjoy the smell of my Uncle Eddie's cigars. After college, I went to law school and I didn't have an opportunity to smoke uh very often. And as a lawyer, I was able to smoke infrequently, still doing a pipe. And I did that until one day I got extremely angry. I don't remember if it was a decision against me or what, but it's probably something I did that was stupid, because that's what really angers me is when I do something stupid. Anyway, I was working at night, filled my bowl with Borkham Riff, and I smoked the entire bowl in less than 15 minutes. And oh, did that make me sick. I had to lay out on the couch in the lobby for an hour before I could go back to work.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

You smoked a bowl of tobacco and you got sick. You know, people nowadays, when you say you smoked a bowl, it means something else.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Well, I didn't know that. It was pork and riff, just to make it clear.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Tobacco.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

But after that night, I stopped smoking entirely. Then fast forward a few years, well, probably several years, and I saw an ad in the golf magazine that for like 10 bucks you could get a box of a sampler box of four cigars. And I thought, well, that'd be cool. You know, it's making me try smoking a cigar while we're playing golf. So I ordered the box in like April of that year. Well, by August, I got a uh postcard from the company that was making the cigars saying they've been overwhelmed with requests. They'll still send it, but it'd probably be a couple more months. Then I got another postcard in like November saying they're still working on it. Little did I know that at the time I ordered these uh cigars, a cigar boom was going on. Uh a magazine had been started, uh Cigar Aficionado, and it just took off the whole industry.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

And what year was this?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

The 70s, the 80s? No, it was 80s. It was 80s. So the 80s when the cigar boom came up came up. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

It might have been 90s, but I think it was 80s. Anyway, eventually the box showed up in like January. But my buddies and I were pretty avid golfers, and there's a golf course about 60 miles south of here that's playable in the wintertime. It's right on the banks of the Columbia River, and somehow that moderates the temperature, and and uh the greens are not hard as parking lots, so we have a good time. So we went down there and I brought uh the box of cigars and we all shared a cigar. They were great. And what was great about them was like you mentioned vacation, I'm type A. So like if I'm going to the doctor's office, I would bring files with me to read so I'm not wasting time. And and I'm just constantly working most weekends, and I'm just type A, that's why I am. But with a cigar, it was a mini vacation because even the smallest cigar takes at least twenty to thirty minutes to smoke. And there are a lot of cigars that take over an hour, so you can't just light up like a cigarette and boom, go on to the next thing. And so I I loved them. Uh it was a it was a way to relax for me, uh, and uh just really fell in love with them. They tasted great. Uh, and uh just that's one of the reasons I called this the Smoke and Gavel Podcast. So when I first started smoking cigars after that round of golf, I bumped into a former partner of mine, and he had just discovered cigars. So we were buying boxes together when we'd split them. One person would get 12 cigars. Back then they came in a box at 25 usually, and one of us would get 12 plus the box, and the other one would get 13. And we'd try them out. And fortunately for me, uh, when I became a judge, we were still a two-county district, and one of the county seats was like 25, 30 minutes away. So I could light up at home, drive to the courthouse, and test out a cigar. Likewise, when I left for the day, I could drive home and I could have another half hour smoke on the way home. And that was a great way to figure out which cigars I liked, which ones I didn't. Until one day, I'll confess this, I also smoke cigars when I go feed my horses. I'd go out to the barn and kind of set up, have a full cigar? Oh, yeah. Not a huge one, probably a half hour smoke, but I'd get I and I wouldn't do it in the barn because I want to get the didn't want to catch the hay on fire. But I'd sit outside the barn, have a cup of coffee or a drink, and and uh smoke and keep the horses company. Until one day I I was on my way to the barn, and it's not by my house, it's like a 15-minute drive or whatever from the house. But I'm on my way there, I'd already lit up, and the cigar I was smoking was awful. And then I realized that I was just lighting up out of habit. I was it just became a routine to to do it when I fed the horses, and it was an awful smoke. And it at that moment I said, nope, I'm never gonna smoke a cigar again unless I have time to enjoy it, and it's a good cigar. And fortunately for me, I can do that. I'm not it I'm not addicted to them. I I've gone a year without smoking for various joint surgeries and stuff, and I didn't go crazy. I mean, I just do it because I enjoy it. And and I don't do it out of habit from that day on.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Very self-disciplined. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and interrupt us with our sponsor break. The Smoke and Gavel podcast is sponsored by Judge Small Books and Gatekeeper Press, a full service publishing company empowering authors with complete creative control, professional guidance, and 100 percent royalties. Whether you're publishing your first book or your tenth, their team makes the premises simple, transparent, and author-friendly. Listeners of the show can receive 10 percent off any publishing package with gatekeeper premise. Just mention code TIPSMU when requesting a quote or during your free consultation at gatekeeperpremises.com. Didn't you also smoke them at the courthouse?

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Well, I did, but not in the courthouse. It was just outside.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

We live in a small town and people have talked about you and your cigars, so just outside.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Well, I had a great setup. We were up on the fifth floor where our chambers were, and down on the basement floor there was a little coffee shop, a little restaurant. And they had a patio outside. And I had the maintenance department for the county measure off 25 feet from the doorway and 25 feet from the vent to the restaurant, and they painted a yellow outline rectangle that was more than 25 feet away from both. So it was a smoking zone. It was also known as my library. I would pack up the lawyers' briefs, my laptop and my cell phone, and of course, a cigar, and get on the elevator to go downstairs and tell my staff that I'll be in the library. And I could sit up there at a nice table and chairs, and and uh it's amazing how pleasant it is to reflect on what the lawyers are trying to persuade you to do while you're smoking a cigar.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

So I thought we were talking about how it's a vacation for you, but we're talking about now how you used to work while doing it.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, but it was it was enhancing.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Maybe because you really enjoyed the work you did.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Okay, that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

And I and it carried over to my novels. Uh when I write my novels, it's out on my back patio and uh smoking a good cigar. Uh, it's just a great way of coming up with uh plots and characters and everything else. But I I did I do have one rule about it based on on my experience with my uncle Eddie. Uh I don't smoke cigars if I know I'm gonna be in an area where there's gonna be kids, people under 18, then I don't smoke. I don't want to be like my uncle Eddie. Because I'm sure that's why I started smoking cigars.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Well, I think that's enough of you belonging smoke. How about we read the next chapter in True Justice?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Chapter 8. The next morning, Arnie is back in his office, a converted craftsman style home near the courthouse. As he pours himself a cup of dark roast coffee, Maria asks, How were your dates with Catherine and Stephanie? Enlighteningly different, Arnie thoughtfully replies. Even though Maria Lopez is his paralegal and office manager, they have known each other for years. She is like a second mother to Arnie at times.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

How so?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Kate was particularly beautiful that evening. We had a delicious dinner at Jake's. She is nicer than most people think. Arnie hesitates. But the more I get to know her, I'm not sure our values are the same.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Let's just say Kate is focused on the finer things in life, he says politely.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Oh, and you're not Mr. M8B and W?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Maria chuckles. Arnie laughs. You got me there, Maria.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

What about Stephanie?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Steph is adorable and down to earth. She doesn't seem to think money is important. I think our values match up better. But it's hard to tell because she seems to be somewhat guarded about her feelings. Maria's motherly instincts take over. Ever since they worked together when he was doing insurance defense work, Arnie has been searching. Always at his side. She went with him when he began his own firm. She was largely responsible for getting him many of his first clients. Then when he began doing plaintiff's work, she insisted he meet with Elmer Stark, despite the reputation of his brother Jason. After that case, his practice took off.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

What about your goals, Arnie?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

She asks.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Honestly, Maria, I'm not sure anymore. I thought plaintiff's work was it. Still somehow, I think there is more for me to do.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Speaking of that, don't you have an appointment at New Dawn this morning?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Jean Branch is anxiously waiting for Arnie's arrival. She has been a domestic violence protection advocate at New Dawn for more than ten years. One of a handful of paid employees, she now supervises all the advocates at New Dawn. Her no nonsense approach enabled her to develop a positive relationship with local law enforcement. When mandatory arrests became the law, several officers were reluctant to enforce the statute's provisions. But Jean's determination and relatable personality convinced them to remove the abuser from the household. In her vast experience, she has never encountered the level of psychological and verbal abuse that Beverly Campbell suffered at the hands of her now ex-husband, Carl Stalker. Jean is committed to finding Beverly an attorney. The local bar association is known for providing hundreds of hours of free legal advice to the poor through its own volunteer attorneys organization. However, most of them shy away from doing so at New Dawn. Their clients' problems usually demand an extraordinary amount of work, not to mention the possible danger involved. Arnie Adams has never volunteered at New Dawn. His call to New Dawn was an answer to Jean's prayer to find someone to represent Beverly. After Arnie told her about his experience with Sunshine, Jason Stark's victim, Jean briefly explained to Arnie that she thought she had a client that would benefit greatly from his skill and experience.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Good morning, Mr. Adams. So good of you to come.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Jean greets him at the door. She is a large woman, not easily intimidated, but gracious and welcoming. Call me Arnie, he replies, smiling. You must call me Jean then, she says, returning his smile.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Please follow me to our conference room.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

The two of them walk down a labyrinth of hallways until ultimately reaching the conference room. It is sparsely appointed with a large, worn wooden conference table surrounded by cheap plastic chairs. Along one wall are two whiteboards with various colored markers in their trays. No one else is in the room. On the table, Arnie sees a rather thick file of documents labeled Beverly Campbell.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Please have a seat, Arnie.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Jean says and directs him to a chair set before the file folders. She then sits alongside him.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

I know how valuable your time is, so I thought it best to simply provide you the file to review. If you have any questions, I'll be in the first office on your right as you exit the conference room. I have taken the liberty of scheduling your first meeting with Miss Campbell tomorrow. If you decide to take her case, that is.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

She says somewhat sheepishly. Thank you, Jean. As soon as I finish, you'll be in your office?

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Of course. Would you like some coffee?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

I'd love some. Thanks. For the next hour and a half, Arnie pours over the contents of the file. On the fly leaf is an intake form with background information on Beverly. Beverly Campbell was born in Adelaide, Australia, where she finished senior secondary school. An only child, she lost both of her parents in a car accident when she was twenty years old. She worked in various low-paying jobs, living off the proceeds of a meager life insurance policy her father had. She met Carl Stalker on a dating website when she was twenty two. They exchanged emails and phone calls for a few months before he sent her a round trip airline ticket to come visit. When they met, Stalker was a perfect gentleman. He was several years older than Beverly, owned a small orchard, and was also employed as a hydromechanic at a nearby dam on the Eagle River. He whined and dined her for two weeks before she returned to Oz. A month later, he proposed to her over the phone. Despite her girlfriend's misgivings, she accepted. Soon after, they were married in Eagleton. They lived on his orchard, and Beverly quickly became pregnant with their first child, a daughter. That's when the abuse began. It was verbal at first and infrequent. Then she got pregnant again, with a second daughter. By that time, Stalker had become more controlling and angrier. She was not allowed outside the home unless he was with her. He monitored all her telephone calls and refused to allow her to get a driver's license. Beverly moved into the spare bedroom. She literally became his cook, house cleaner, and sex slave. The only intercourse they had was nonconsensual. He told her it was her duty to satisfy his needs whenever he wanted. His drinking increased to the point that her only peace and quiet was when he passed out. After she gave birth to their third daughter, he became enraged. Always careful not to touch her, except during intercourse, he berated her daily. Nothing she did was ever good enough. He was constantly screaming at her, telling her she was no good, and threatening to have her deported so she would lose her daughters. She had nowhere to turn. Then one day when Stalker was at work, a next door neighbor stopped by to borrow some milk. Emily was a godsend to her. Soon Beverly was sharing her miserable existence with Emily. Then it happened. Beverly became pregnant a fourth time. With Emily's help, Beverly filed for divorce. By that time she was under a doctor's care for depression. Unbeknownst to Stalker, Beverly got an abortion. She couldn't stand the thought of having another child of his, especially if it was going to be a boy. After years of indoctrination, his daughters believed their mother was crazy and no good. They asked the court to live with their father. After the court hearing, Beverly tried to commit suicide. At the trial, Beverly was temporarily living at Emily's, did not have a job, and was on medication and under the care of a doctor for serious depression. The judge had no choice but to give custody of the girls to their father, but he ordered that the girls receive counseling for what they had been through and to renew their relationship with their mother. Shaking his head in disbelief, Arnie sits back, amazed at how the system failed Beverly when Stalker got custody of her girls by abusing her. There is no doubt in Arnie's mind that it was not true justice. Arnie stood up to tell Jean he was definitely taking the case. Today, listeners, we have a much better picture of Beverly Campbell and the hell her husband, Carl Stocker, gave her. Thankfully, Arnie is willing to help her.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

That was a pretty heavied one today, Judge. Well, what's on the docket next week?

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Our next podcast, I'll share with our listeners the story of the second hardest decision I had to make as a judge. Thanks for listening today. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Smoke and Gavel Podcast. To learn more, visit judgesmallbooks.com. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share to stay connected. Until next time, God bless.