TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - An appellate court says it removed a Jacksonville judge from a lawsuit because of he had compared a former tobacco company executive to a Nazi war criminal known as the "Angel of Death."
    
The three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal issued an opinion Wednesday in Tallahassee explaining a June order that took Circuit Judge Adrian Soud off the case.
    
Soud said a videotape of former Philip Morris CEO Joseph Cullman reminded him of Dr. Joseph Megele, the Nazi doctor who conducted horrific experiments on concentration camp prisoners during World War II.
    
Cullman said on the tape that lower birth weights caused by smoking may be desirable for some women who "might prefer having smaller babies."
    
Philip Morris was sued for wrongful death by a smoker's wife.

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