{"id":97692,"date":"2024-12-11T13:02:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T21:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2024\/12\/11\/prosecutor-says-she-was-pressured-to-send-disgraced-judge-nude-photos\/"},"modified":"2024-12-11T13:02:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T21:02:12","slug":"prosecutor-says-she-was-pressured-to-send-disgraced-judge-nude-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2024\/12\/11\/prosecutor-says-she-was-pressured-to-send-disgraced-judge-nude-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutor Says She Was Pressured To Send Disgraced Judge Nude Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

She says the judge had \u2018the power to ruin not only my career, but my personal life as well.\u2019
\nThe post Prosecutor Says She Was Pressured To Send Disgraced Judge Nude Photos appeared first on Above the Law.<\/p>\n

\"941344\"Former Trump-appointed federal judge Joshua Kindred resigned from the District of Alaska bench<\/a>, just four years after beginning his lifetime appointment. According to the Special Committee appointed by the Ninth Circuit to investigate the ethics complaints against the judge, Kindred engaged in sexual misconduct creating a sexualized relationship with one of his clerks and a hostile work environment for others. The report by the Special Committee also identified potential conflicts of interest<\/a> with other attorneys who had business in his courtroom \u2014 specifically noting an Assistant United States Attorney \u201cwith whom he had a flirtatious rapport\u201d (later identified as Karen Vandergaw) sent Kindred nude photographs.<\/p>\n

The impact<\/a> of the judge\u2019s undisclosed conflicts of interest on the judicial system is still being assessed. But one result was a new trial for Rolando Hernandez-Zamora. Documents filed during the course of the Hernandez-Zamora case revealed new details about the interactions between Vandergaw and Kindred.<\/p>\n

According to court filings, Vandergaw said she was \u201ctrapped\u201d by Kindred\u2019s request for nude photos and that he had \u201cthe power to ruin not only my career, but my personal life as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

When initially asked about her relationship with Kindred, Vandergraw said it was strictly professional. However, after he resigned, the full story came out. As reported by<\/a> Reuters, a motion<\/a> in the Hernandez-Zamora provides details:<\/p>\n

\n

But after Kindred resigned, Vandergraw in August \u201cadmitted that she had not been truthful,\u201d [U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez] wrote, and that she had at Kindred\u2019s request sent him nude photos via encrypted messaging services beginning in December 2021.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The filings<\/a> in that case also describe Vandergraw\u2019s state of mind at the time.<\/p>\n

\n

Defense lawyer Alexis Howell in a motion arguing for the dismissal of the case [against Hernandez-Zamora] said that Vandergraw in her August letter described how Kindred began asking for the photos after bragging about his political contacts and offering to help the prosecutor get nominated to become a federal judge herself.<\/p>\n

Vandergaw in the letter said she felt \u201ccompletely powerless\u201d and sent him nude photos while also receiving sexually explicit messages from Kindred, who acted aggressively and made it clear he had \u201cthe power to ruin my life,\u201d according to the motion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Vandergraw went on to say she \u201cfelt trapped and believed I had no choice\u201d but to send him the nude photographs.<\/p>\n

\"KathrynKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She says the judge had \u2018the power to ruin not only my career, but my personal life as well.\u2019 The post Prosecutor Says She Was Pressured To Send Disgraced Judge Nude Photos appeared first on Above the Law. Former Trump-appointed federal judge Joshua Kindred resigned from the District of Alaska bench, just four years after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":97693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/gavel-3575414_640-KHHzm3.jpeg?fit=640%2C352&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}