Remember former Supreme Court Justice Ronald H Tills?  At one time, “Tills had the reputation as one of the toughest sentencing judges in Western New York during his 10 years as a State Supreme Court judge,” according to the Buffalo News.

Did this reflect his firm belief in the value of leading a law-abiding life?  Nu-uh.  See, Tills was a Jester.  That’s a Jester, as in the Royal Order of Jesters, the secret, yet mirthful, offspring of the Masons.  Now many Jesters and Masons, using what little command of their mother tongue they possessed, arose to defend the honor and dignity of this crowd.  I received many comments, informing me of what a poor example of a human being I was for not appreciating the wonderful things they do for society.

But it turns out that, while the judge was throwing the book at others, he was engaging in felony crimes himself.

And now Tills is looking at jail time — possibly 21 months or more — after taking a plea deal Thursday before U. S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

An embarrassed-looking Tills, 73, admitted Thursday that he recruited prostitutes for events sponsored by a nationwide fraternal men’s club called the Royal Order of Jesters.

This is just too embarrassing.  Take a look at that face.  Is that the face of a whoremonger?  I ask you.  Okay, forget the face.  What about the body?  Has anybody checked his email for viagra buys?

So what exactly did Judge Tills do?

Tills admitted the following:

• He was responsible for recruiting out-of-state prostitutes to work a Jesters meeting in Dunkirk “in or about September 2001,” while serving as director of the Buffalo chapter of the Jesters.

• He recruited an illegal alien prostitute from a North Tonawanda massage parlor to service men at a Jesters event in Kentucky in October 2005.

• He arranged for transporting prostitutes from Buffalo Niagara International Airport to a national Jesters meeting in Niagara Falls, Ont., in the spring of 2006.

For future reference, if you want to know the job duties of the director of a Jesters chapter, now you know.

And what about the Lori Drew motions to dismiss?

The Lori Drew/Myspace case, perhaps the case that draws the most visceral disgust of any involving the use of the internet, finally went before U.S. District Judge George H. Wu for decision on H. Dean Steward’s motions to dismiss.  Bear in mind, no matter how much you despise Lori Drew, the implications of this prosecution go far beyond this one instance, making it a critical test of the creation of criminal liability for violating private website terms of service.

I wasn’t overwhelmed with the strength of the defense motions, but then I wasn’t overwhelmed by the government’s response either.  Dean Steward was miffed with me for questioning his work.  There was nothing to be gained by arguing the point with him, since it wasn’t my call but Judge Wu’s.

So what did Judge Wu think?  According to the San Francisco Chronicle :

Wu tentatively rejected the motions claiming vagueness and that prosecutors were overstepping their power.

He plans to mull the motion that prosecutors had failed to state an offense before making a final ruling on all three motions within a few days.

It may not be a win just yet, but it’s not yet a loss either.  In fact, getting the judge to give your motion some extra thought is a moral victory, usually denied most litigants.  So, the hope for a sound decision remains alive.

And for those who subscribe to the Nancy Grace view of law, where little details like law and theory should never stand in the way of putting the people you really hate behind bars, please bear in mind that no one supports what Lori Drew did, or internet bullying.  We’re all in agreement on this point, and we’re all disgusted by someone like Lori Drew.  But that doesn’t mean we contort the law to find some way to “get her,” no matter how strained and absurd, because that same contortion will come back to other people who we do not despise to get them as well.  So don’t get all twisted.