The Chicago Way Judge: Infamous Judge Who Fixed Murder Trial Leaves Jail

The Chicago Tribune reports on the infamous Thomas Maloney:

Thomas J. Maloney lives on a quiet street in the west suburbs. The 82-year-old reads books and writes letters, takes walks around the block and spends time with his wife and grandchildren.

But there was a time, about 15 years ago, when the former Cook County judge was described by a federal prosecutor as a man who "rewrote the meaning of corruption."

Today, after serving more than a dozen years in prison for taking bribes to fix murder cases, Maloney still claims his innocence and remains embittered toward those who put him there.

In a 20-minute interview Friday in the front doorway of his Woodridge home, Maloney described his 12 years and three months in federal prison, saying he taught boxing and was known as "Judge." Maloney, who is on home confinement, declined to be photographed.

Maloney maintains that he was a victim of "overreaching" prosecutors and "scumbag" witnesses who "were from the bottom of the barrel."

Maloney was convicted of taking thousands of dollars in bribes to fix three separate murder trials in the 1980s and was sentenced to almost 16 years in prison in 1994.

For a greater understanding how someone like Mr.Maloney can be a judge click on this.