This is one of those bizarre tales that you just couldn’t make up if you had to.  According to Newsday, David Gross, ex-judge of the Nassau County District Court, has plead guilty to his participation in money laundering conspiracy in the Eastern District of New York.

The conspiracy arose from then-judge Gross making a plan with a wiseguy and a FBI undercover to move stolen diamonds and then launder the cash through a restaurant.  I know, I had the same reaction.  It was such a ridiculous story that I couldn’t believe that anybody, no less a judge, would get involved.  And yet this plea ends that discussion.

I can’t say that I knew Judge Gross well, but I did have a nice dinner with him.  I was giving a lecture on the United States Sentencing Guidelines, and the impact of Booker, to the Nassau County Criminal Courts Association.  It was really a very lovely evening, at nice little tavern with a lovely meal to follow.  After I had finished my talk, I sat at a table and was introduced to Judge Gross.  He was a regular guy, having made his way up the ranks on the defense side of the table.

I asked my good buddy, Dick Barbuto, what kind of a judge he was.  He told me that David Gross wasn’t bad at all.  In case you think otherwise, defense lawyers often make notoriously harsh judges, since they think they’ve heard every lie and scam every conceived.  Once they put on a robe, they swear they will never let a defendant (or their lawyer) sneak one past them again.  Plus, they have to prove that they’re not one of those defendant-loving pushovers, so they tend to go too far the other way.

I chatted with Judge Gross during dinner.  I found him intelligent, witty and charming.  He was a regular guy, not the type who tries to rub your nose in his robe.  We talked plain and I left thinking, he’s pretty sharp.  Bear in mind, we’re talking Nassau County, New York.  Pretty sharp is high praise indeed.  The primary qualification for getting elected in Nassau County is how many signs you can nail to a telephone pole in 6 weeks.

And then came the revelation about Judge Gross getting busted.  Holy Cow!  And not even for honest graft (a la Plunkitt), but moving stolen diamonds.  C’mon…that’s just so far out that it sounded like it couldn’t be possible.  I was waiting for the next story, where they told about a judge who got punk’d.  But the second story never came.  Until now.

I cannot begin to fathom what happened to David Gross.  I can’t imagine what he was thinking, what would have pushed him to do this.  I liked him and, whatever demons drove him to embroil himself in this conspiracy, I feel bad for him.  But more than that, I am embarrassed by what he did.  These days, there aren’t too many judges that come from the ranks of the defense.  Of these, there aren’t too many who you would want to eat with, no less talk to unless you’re paid to do so.  And finally, there aren’t many who you would want to pass sentence on your client.  David Gross had been a rare one.  Apparently, even more rare than I knew.

Now David Gross has made himself into a pathetic joke.  He has made himself the poster child of why defense lawyers can’t be handed a public trust.  He has hurt us.  He will be punished for the crime he committed.  We will all be punished for the crime he committed.  What a shame.  What a disgrace.