(718) 602-2737
sloan@ishipress.com
http://www.shamema.com/shamema.htm
December 12, 1998
On December 2, I sent you a letter regarding my urgent request that Judge Gamble not be reappointed.
I am now enclosing a few items of documentary evidence in support of my claims. These documents make it obvious that Judge Gamble was absolutely disqualified from sitting as a judge on my cases. I must limit it to just a few items, because to include everything would require volumes.
The first item is a letter is dated January 23, 1986 from the law firm of Pendleton & Gamble to the Trust Department of Central Fidelity Bank concerning my late father's estate. You will note the name "J. Michael Gamble" on the letterhead.
Following that is a document dated March 25, 1986 from the law firm of Pendleton & Gamble, in which Alma C. Sloan (as she calls herself) renounces my father's will.
The law firm of Pendleton and Gamble subsequently filed a lawsuit against both me and my mother in which they alleged that we had embezzled funds from my father's estate. That claim was without legal merit. The point is that Judge Gamble has been actively a party in litigation against me and my mother since 1986. That suit is still pending and has never been dismissed.
Next is a letter I wrote to Michael Gamble dated September 29, 1986 in which I complained that he was using confidential information I had given him during the brief period in 1985 when he was my lawyer. ( I have retyped this letter, because the 1986 copy I have is difficult to read). This letter demonstrates that already Michael was engaging in egregious ethical violations. When I had retained him as counsel, I had given him a box of sensitive documents pertaining to my cases. He had later made this information available to my adversaries.
From this you can see that the conflict between me and Michael Gamble has been going on since 1986.
After that is a letter dated December 30, 1991. By this time Michael Gamble was a judge. In this letter, he sets the date of January 14, 1992 as the date for a hearing he says he is going to hold on what he calls my motion to disqualify him. I did not know it at the time, but after receiving my demand that he disqualify himself, Judge Gamble had secretly ordered me to be arrested and held without bond. This is another of the many illegal acts by Judge Gamble. Although a judge can order a person to be arrested (but not under the circumstances of this case), a judge cannot prior to the arrest order that the person be held without bond. Judge Gamble also tried and sentenced me in absentia. The Virginia Court of Appeals has ruled that a defendant may be tried in absentia, but may not be sentenced in absentia. Furthermore, over my vehement protests, in November, 1992, Judge Gamble removed two of my lawyers who were defending me from the charges which he had brought and replaced them with the weakest possible attorney. The list of illegal acts by Judge Gamble goes on and on.
Then there are two more letters by Judge Gamble, (needless to say, he did not disqualify himself on January 14, 1992) in which he denies my motion for transcripts on the grounds that my "parental rights had not been terminated." Meanwhile, my daughter had been kidnapped and held prisoner for three years by the friends of Judge Gamble, Charles and Shelby Roberts.
Judge Gamble has made the claim that I have no right to object to his presence as a judge on my cases because I waived or failed to assert that right at an early stage. However, the canons of ethics make clear a distinction between waivable disqualifications and disqualifications which cannot be waived. Among the examples of unwaivable disqualifications are when a judge has been a party to the case, when he has consulted with a party to the case and when he has personal knowledge of the facts. Under all three grounds, Judge Gamble is disqualified. Not only did he consult with me with regard to the custody of my daughter, but he consulted with the Roberts as well.
In addition, is a violation of the canons of ethics for a judge with an unwaivable disqualification to ask that the disqualification be waived, which Judge Gamble did.
I will admit that at the very beginning of Judge Gamble's term as a judge, which started in March, 1991, I did not immediately raise this issue because, frankly, I had no idea what was going to happen. I did not imagine that Judge Gamble would be involved in the kidnapping of my daughter, that he would steal my mother's house, that he would freeze my mother's bank account, that he would have me arrested several times and so on.
One reason why I was at first sanguine as to this was that by chance I met Judge Gamble while walking down the street in Amherst in early 1991, after he had been appointed as a judge but before he had taken office, and he made complimentary remarks including saying that he admired me for fighting so hard to get my natural child back.
Judge Gamble had also been the partner of my former lawyer, Steve Martin.
Most importantly, in the meantime, Fred Hodnett, Assistant Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, had assigned several of my cases to other judges, including especially Judge Paul Peatross of the Albemarle County Circuit Court. Judge Peatross had already made it clear that he had his own unique views of the law. Judge Peatross issued an injunction which enjoined me from saying that Charles and Shelby Roberts had kidnapped my daughter. Furthermore, Mr. Hodnett informed me that he had canvassed every other judge in Virginia, that all the other judges had heard about these cases involving my family, and that all the other judges in Virginia had disqualified themselves.
Thus, if I wanted to get my kidnapped daughter back, my only chance seemed to be from Judge Gamble.
Furthermore, any waiver would only apply to one case. Judge Gamble has made himself the judge on about six cases involving me. On more than twenty occasions, in open court, I have objected to Judge Gamble. It was just during the first few months of his term of office that I did not make any objection regarding the one case, and that was because I really had no choice. Furthermore, my mother clearly never waived any objection, and the suits involving Judge Gamble, both the suits he filed against her and the suit for the sale of my mother's house, named both me and my mother as co-defendants.
Judge Gamble's insistence on being the judge on that last case, which was filed in mid-1992, was clearly illegal. I objected immediately.
In February, 1996, after apparently receiving a rebuke from the Chief Justice of Virginia, Judge Gamble agreed to allow another judge to sit on the case of the custody of my daughter, Shamema. However, thereafter I could not get a hearing for one full year, until April, 1997, because the Clerk of Amherst County said that they had a shortage of courtroom space. Thus, the kidnappers of my daughter, instead of going to jail where they belonged, were allowed to keep my daughter due to a shortage of courtroom space.
I must mention that the town of Amherst has only about 1500 people, plus it is graced with a very large courthouse, so the excuse of a shortage of courtroom space is obviously nonsense.
You must understand how vitally important it is for me to have Judge Gamble removed. This man has not only destroyed my life and kidnapped my daughter, but he and his former law partner Judge Janow will continue to attack and threaten me for as long as they are judges. I am fearful of coming to Virginia because of them. Moreover, the kidnappers of my daughter intend to keep her under their total domination and control for her entire life. My daughter is still being kept under constant armed guard to this day, according to neighbors who live in the area. They have no intention of ever allowing my daughter to return to her natural family, regardless of how old she gets.
One final point regarding the theft of my mother's funds by Judge Gamble: There is a procedure in Virginia law for the appointment of a guardian who then holds the money and files periodic reports with the Commissioner of Accounts, who, in Lynchburg, is Preston Sawyer. However, Judge Gamble did not do that. No guardian has been appointed. No reports are being filed with Preston Sawyer. My mother's money has simply disappeared and been stolen.
Very Truly Yours,
Sam Sloan