( CNN ) -- A former Alabama judge accused of checking male inmates out of jail and forcing them to engage in sexual activity was found not guilty Monday on charges of sexual abuse , attempted sodomy and assault , his lawyer said . Attorney Robert Clark said former Judge Herman Thomas was found not guilty on several charges and the judge in the case granted a directed verdict of acquittal on all the other counts . The Mobile County district attorney did not immediately return CNN calls for comment . Thomas , 48 , denied wrongdoing . Clark said on October 20 that the judge was trying to mentor the inmates and did not assault them . The judge does not deny bringing the inmates into his office , Clark said last week . `` He was mentoring them . He was trying to get them to do right , to be productive citizens . '' Thomas cried after the verdicts were read , Clark said Monday . `` He hugged me and he hugged his wife . And he had a courtroom full of supporters . It all worked out in the end , '' the attorney said . One of the alleged victims testified October 19 that he does n't know why his semen was found on the carpet of a small room used as an office by Thomas , according to The Mobile Press-Register newspaper . But he did say Thomas spanked him with a belt on several occasions , the newspaper reported , and that the paddlings took place inside a jury room , in the small office and at a Mobile , Alabama , fraternity house . Another man testified that after he was charged with kidnapping and robbery in 2002 , Thomas visited him in jail and urged the man to let Thomas decide the case instead of a jury , according to the Press-Register . Thomas convicted him of lesser charges , he testified , and sentenced him to a 90-day boot camp . He said Thomas also beat him with a belt on his bare buttocks about a dozen times at the courthouse , the newspaper reported . Neither man was identified . `` All of them [ the alleged victims ] were given preferential treatment at some point , '' Nicki Patterson , chief assistant district attorney for Mobile County , said earlier this month . `` And ultimately , when some of them refused to continue participating [ in the activities ] , they were given what I would view as excessive sentences . But certainly while the inmates were involved with the activities we allege , the state would say , it was extremely lenient sentences . '' Clark said his client 's next hurdle is the Alabama State Bar . `` They suspended him back in March because he got indicted . And we 're fighting to give him his law license back , '' he said . CNN 's Carolina Sanchez contributed to this report .
Ex - husband Herman Thomas accused of sexual abuse , attempted sodomy , assault . He says he brought them to his office to question them . Lawyer : ` ` He was trying to get them to do right , to be productive . ''