The Jacob Trieber Federal Building in Helena, Arkansas. (Library of Congress photo)
Thomas David Carruth, a former Monroe County district judge and deputy prosecutor, was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for making false statements to the FBI.
Carruth, 65, of Clarendon, was accused in 2022 of soliciting sex from the girlfriend of a defendant in his court. He had previously been admonished by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission for unethical behavior over contact outside the courtroom with defendants appearing before him. The contact included allegations of soliciting sex from defendants, according to court documents.
A federal grand jury indicted Carruth in January 2023 on three counts each of honest services wire fraud and interstate bribery and one count each of lying to the FBI and federal program bribery. A ninth count was dismissed ahead of his trial last year.
After a two-day trial in a federal court in Helena, a jury of six men and six women convicted Carruth on Aug. 30, 2024, only of making false statements to the FBI.
In a sentencing memorandum filed in April, federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. to upgrade the sentencing guidelines applicable to the crime from a maximum of six months to a maximum of 18 months in prison with a year of supervised release.
The memo cited Carruth’s “decades of abuse of authority, his ardent refusal to accept an ounce of responsibility for his misconduct, and his abhorrent behavior during trial” as reasons for a harsher sentence.
In the memo, Assistant U.S. attorneys Madison Mumma and Nicholas Cannon from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters with the Eastern District of Arkansas wrote that “throughout his career, Carruth has repeatedly abused [his positions of authority] for his own sexual gratification.”
An FBI search of Carruth’s electronic devices found surreptitiously-taken video of his nude stepdaughter and sexually graphic email exchanges with a court employee, according to the document.
The memo also contains as exhibits the JDDC’s 2018 admonishment and a Feb. 11, 2025, letter to the court from Emily Abbott, executive director of the judicial disciplinary body.
“Before Mr. Carruth left the judiciary, I considered him to be one of the top five threats to the integrity of the Arkansas state-level judiciary,” Abbott wrote. She said his conviction was “a great relief” because it means he can no longer serve as a judge in Arkansas, but his inability to return to the judiciary or continue to practice law “is not an adequate punishment for misrepresentations to the FBI.”
“He is a predatory liar and has been for quite some time. My hope is that his sentence will match the magnitude of his actions,” Abbott wrote.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Rosenzweig of Little Rock argued in separate memos that Carruth’s underlying conduct should not be considered in his sentencing and for probation.
In a court document, Marshall accepted the government’s position that Carruth’s behavior should be taken into consideration, and on Monday sentenced the former judge to 24 months with no required supervised release. He also allowed Carruth to remain free on bond and self-report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Aug. 22.
To view this story, or for more news updates from Arkansas Advocate, click here.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI