Judge Sinfield
Encyclopedia
Judge Martin Sinfield is a fictional supporting character and antagonist
in the Judge Dredd
comic strip in 2000 AD
, most notably in the story "Tour of Duty
" (2009–10). He was acting chief judge
of Mega-City One
in 2132.
's controversial policy of granting citizenship to mutants
resulted in a dramatic fall in her popularity, Sinfield was one of three senior judges
(with Cardew and Millan) who led a campaign to remove her from office in a recall election
. When this triumvirate's chosen candidate, Judge Dan Francisco
, was seriously injured in an assassination attempt, Francisco easily won the election and became chief judge. Sinfield's reward was promotion to deputy chief judge, and consequently he served as acting chief judge while Francisco remained in hospital, recovering from his wounds. From this position, Sinfield easily established himself as the real power behind the throne.
One of their first acts was to exile Judges Dredd and Hershey from the city for their role in promoting mutant rights. Dredd was sent to the Cursed Earth
to oversee the construction of four new mutant townships
which were being set up in the Cursed Earth to house the recently deported mutants.
Like many judges, Sinfield has been cloned. When Sinfield's clone, Judge March, was given his Final Assessment, Judge Rico
found him wanting and failed him, incurring Sinfield's ire. In revenge, Sinfield exiled Rico to the Cursed Earth townships as well. Due to Sinfield's mediocrity, Dredd and Rico suspected that he had corruptly sneaked his DNA onto the cloning program. However their efforts to prove this met a dead end.
Even once Chief Judge Francisco was well enough to run his own administration, Sinfield manipulated him to some degree, for example by using his influence to exile Rico. Nevertheless, Sinfield did not always get his own way. He clashed with Francisco when the Chief Judge overruled his objections to spending more money on the mutant townships.
Francisco was aware that his deputy was trying to manipulate him, but he still did not dismiss him as he believed Sinfield had the city's best interests at heart. However, Francisco's confidence was badly misplaced. Sinfield was a stern hardliner on the mutant issue, and eventually he became disillusioned with Francisco's relatively compassionate treatment of mutants, and with his willingness to spend what Sinfield regarded as extravagant sums of the city's strained budget on ensuring the mutant townships were somewhat decent places to live in. Finally resorting to criminal means, Sinfield used a powerful hypnotic drug to subvert Francisco's will, and then encouraged him to resign. With Francisco's resignation in 2132, Sinfield automatically became acting chief judge, and at once set about imposing harsh anti-mutant policies, such as automatic deportation for the most trivial of offences.
On Sinfield's first day in office, Judge Dredd lodged a formal complaint against him with the Council of Five
, accusing Sinfield of gross negligence in failing to provide him with sufficient resources, almost leading to the death of one of the judges under Dredd's command, Judge Munn. However, Dredd's hopes of receiving even a partially sympathetic hearing before the Council were soon dashed when Sinfield simply replaced the more moderate Council members with hardliners like himself.
Sinfield also incurred the displeasure of the Mayor of Mega-City One
, Byron Ambrose, when he attempted to bully him into changing his policies to raise more revenue. Unaware that Mayor Ambrose was in fact the infamous serial killer PJ Maybe
, who had stolen Ambrose's identity, Sinfield threatened to undermine his re-election campaign. Maybe retaliated by covertly infecting him with a deadly fungus. However he survived not only the fungus but also Maybe's next attempt, using another deadly disease. Consequently Sinfield recalled Judge Dredd from the Cursed Earth to investigate the attempts on his life, believing Dredd to be the best man for the job. Dredd uncovered Maybe's involvement after he personally thwarted a third murder attempt.
Unfortunately for Sinfield, during the investigation Dredd's aide, Judge Logan, uncovered the fact that Sinfield had accessed an archived evidence file holding old evidence relating to PJ Maybe, leading Dredd to begin to wonder just why Sinfield had wanted it. It was actually from this file that Sinfield had obtained the hypnotic drug which he used on Francisco. However Sinfield refused to explain himself to Dredd, and so his crime was not immediately discovered.
Nevertheless, Dredd was so disgusted with Sinfield's dereliction of duty in endangering the life of Judge Munn, and the subsequent whitewashing of the affair by the Council of Five, that he decided to run against Sinfield in another recall election. During the election campaign, Dredd finally uncovered Sinfield's theft of the hypnotic drug, and arranged for him to be arrested. Sinfield was removed from office, convicted by the Council of Five, and sentenced to 20 years' hard labour on a penal colony on Titan
.
The truth was initially withheld from the public, who were told he had resigned due to ill health. However Chief Judge Francisco, on returning to office, decided that it would not matter if Sinfield's real fate was leaked: it would send a message to the citizens. Once arriving on Titan, Sinfield became the centre of attention, with many of the inmates loathing him (several had been sent there because of him). Sinfield's fate was soon officially acknowledged, and he was not expected to survive his sentence.
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
in the Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
comic strip in 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
, most notably in the story "Tour of Duty
Tour of Duty (Judge Dredd story)
Tour of Duty is a Judge Dredd story published in British comic 2000 AD . It lasted for 46 episodes, 39 of which were written by John Wagner. It has the greatest number of episodes and pages of any Judge Dredd story...
" (2009–10). He was acting chief judge
Chief Judge of Mega-City One
Chief Judge of Mega-City One is the title of several supporting characters in the Judge Dredd comic strip published in 2000 AD. The chief judge is dictator and head of state of Mega-City One, a fictional future city of around 400 million people in 22nd-century America...
of Mega-City One
Mega-City One
Mega-City One is a huge fictional city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. The exact boundaries of the city depend on which artist has drawn the story...
in 2132.
Fictional character biography
Judge Sinfield was the head of Traffic Division until 2120, when he was transferred to take charge of re-organising Administration. In 2131, when Chief Judge HersheyJudge Hershey
Judge Barbara Hershey is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd series that appears in British comic 2000 AD. For nearly two decades she regularly appeared as Dredd's sidekick, before being promoted to become his superior: she was chief judge for nine years...
's controversial policy of granting citizenship to mutants
Mutants (Judge Dredd)
Mutants are a recurring theme in the Judge Dredd science-fiction stories published in British comics 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine...
resulted in a dramatic fall in her popularity, Sinfield was one of three senior judges
Judge (2000 AD)
Judge is a title held by several significant characters in the Judge Dredd series, which appears in the British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine...
(with Cardew and Millan) who led a campaign to remove her from office in a recall election
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
. When this triumvirate's chosen candidate, Judge Dan Francisco
Judge Francisco
Chief Judge Dan Francisco is a fictional supporting character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He is chief judge of Mega-City One.-Fictional character biography:...
, was seriously injured in an assassination attempt, Francisco easily won the election and became chief judge. Sinfield's reward was promotion to deputy chief judge, and consequently he served as acting chief judge while Francisco remained in hospital, recovering from his wounds. From this position, Sinfield easily established himself as the real power behind the throne.
One of their first acts was to exile Judges Dredd and Hershey from the city for their role in promoting mutant rights. Dredd was sent to the Cursed Earth
Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe from the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
to oversee the construction of four new mutant townships
Tour of Duty (Judge Dredd story)
Tour of Duty is a Judge Dredd story published in British comic 2000 AD . It lasted for 46 episodes, 39 of which were written by John Wagner. It has the greatest number of episodes and pages of any Judge Dredd story...
which were being set up in the Cursed Earth to house the recently deported mutants.
Like many judges, Sinfield has been cloned. When Sinfield's clone, Judge March, was given his Final Assessment, Judge Rico
Judge Rico
Judge Rico is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD magazine. He chose the name Rico to commemorate Rico Dredd.-Character biography:...
found him wanting and failed him, incurring Sinfield's ire. In revenge, Sinfield exiled Rico to the Cursed Earth townships as well. Due to Sinfield's mediocrity, Dredd and Rico suspected that he had corruptly sneaked his DNA onto the cloning program. However their efforts to prove this met a dead end.
Even once Chief Judge Francisco was well enough to run his own administration, Sinfield manipulated him to some degree, for example by using his influence to exile Rico. Nevertheless, Sinfield did not always get his own way. He clashed with Francisco when the Chief Judge overruled his objections to spending more money on the mutant townships.
Francisco was aware that his deputy was trying to manipulate him, but he still did not dismiss him as he believed Sinfield had the city's best interests at heart. However, Francisco's confidence was badly misplaced. Sinfield was a stern hardliner on the mutant issue, and eventually he became disillusioned with Francisco's relatively compassionate treatment of mutants, and with his willingness to spend what Sinfield regarded as extravagant sums of the city's strained budget on ensuring the mutant townships were somewhat decent places to live in. Finally resorting to criminal means, Sinfield used a powerful hypnotic drug to subvert Francisco's will, and then encouraged him to resign. With Francisco's resignation in 2132, Sinfield automatically became acting chief judge, and at once set about imposing harsh anti-mutant policies, such as automatic deportation for the most trivial of offences.
On Sinfield's first day in office, Judge Dredd lodged a formal complaint against him with the Council of Five
Council of Five
The Council of Five is a fictional legislature and court in the Judge Dredd comic strip appearing in 2000 AD. It first appeared in 2000 AD prog 86 ....
, accusing Sinfield of gross negligence in failing to provide him with sufficient resources, almost leading to the death of one of the judges under Dredd's command, Judge Munn. However, Dredd's hopes of receiving even a partially sympathetic hearing before the Council were soon dashed when Sinfield simply replaced the more moderate Council members with hardliners like himself.
Sinfield also incurred the displeasure of the Mayor of Mega-City One
Mayor of Mega-City One
Mayor of Mega-City One is a fictional office in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. The most significant mayor to appear in the comic was serial killer PJ Maybe, in disguise as Byron Ambrose....
, Byron Ambrose, when he attempted to bully him into changing his policies to raise more revenue. Unaware that Mayor Ambrose was in fact the infamous serial killer PJ Maybe
PJ Maybe
Philip Janet Maybe is a fictional character in the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd. He is a notorious serial killer, and most notably assumed the identity of Mayor Byron Ambrose, who he murdered.-Fictional character biography:...
, who had stolen Ambrose's identity, Sinfield threatened to undermine his re-election campaign. Maybe retaliated by covertly infecting him with a deadly fungus. However he survived not only the fungus but also Maybe's next attempt, using another deadly disease. Consequently Sinfield recalled Judge Dredd from the Cursed Earth to investigate the attempts on his life, believing Dredd to be the best man for the job. Dredd uncovered Maybe's involvement after he personally thwarted a third murder attempt.
Unfortunately for Sinfield, during the investigation Dredd's aide, Judge Logan, uncovered the fact that Sinfield had accessed an archived evidence file holding old evidence relating to PJ Maybe, leading Dredd to begin to wonder just why Sinfield had wanted it. It was actually from this file that Sinfield had obtained the hypnotic drug which he used on Francisco. However Sinfield refused to explain himself to Dredd, and so his crime was not immediately discovered.
Nevertheless, Dredd was so disgusted with Sinfield's dereliction of duty in endangering the life of Judge Munn, and the subsequent whitewashing of the affair by the Council of Five, that he decided to run against Sinfield in another recall election. During the election campaign, Dredd finally uncovered Sinfield's theft of the hypnotic drug, and arranged for him to be arrested. Sinfield was removed from office, convicted by the Council of Five, and sentenced to 20 years' hard labour on a penal colony on Titan
Titan (moon)
Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
.
The truth was initially withheld from the public, who were told he had resigned due to ill health. However Chief Judge Francisco, on returning to office, decided that it would not matter if Sinfield's real fate was leaked: it would send a message to the citizens. Once arriving on Titan, Sinfield became the centre of attention, with many of the inmates loathing him (several had been sent there because of him). Sinfield's fate was soon officially acknowledged, and he was not expected to survive his sentence.