All that a judge should be
♦ Honoring and remembering Judge Harold L. Murphy.
SMILE BECAUSE HE LIVED
You can shed tears that he is gone, or you can smile because he lived. You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back, or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left. Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him, or you can be full of the love that you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember him and only that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn back, or you can do what he would want: Smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
— Author Unknown
Wisdom, fairness, intelligence and knowledge are all marks of a great jurist. Judge Harold Murphy possessed each of those facets and they were tied together with a wry and engaging sense of humor.
Judge Murphy passed away early Wednesday, leaving behind a judicial legacy over four decades long.
“He was an outstanding jurist, a veritable institution in the legal community and he was a wonderful human being,” said Chief Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. “He was not only highly intelligent, he was wise and fair to everyone who entered his courtroom.”
Murphy attended the University of Georgia Law School, graduating in 1949. His class included his cousin Tom Murphy, who went on to become speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. He married Jacqueline Marie Ferri Murphy in 1958 and they had two sons — Mark Harold Murphy and Paul Bailey Murphy.
Then-Gov. Jimmy Carter appointed him to a judgeship in the Tallapoosa Superior Court Circuit in 1971. Several years later, in 1977, President Carter appointed him to a seat on the federal bench. He served in that role for over 40 years.
He retired from active service in 2017 but held senior judge status and maintained a courtroom in Rome’s federal building.
His beginnings were humble and he maintained that humility throughout a storied career. Murphy grew up in rural Haralson County in a home with no electricity. He began his career by serving in the Navy at the end of World War II, and returned to his native Haralson County and served in the state House from 1951-1961.
“I didn’t accomplish much but I learned a lot,” he said during a 2017 Criminal Justice Foundation event in Rome, adding that his cousin Tom followed him into the House. “I turned honest and got out of the legislature and he took over the job,” he said with a smile.
The legal community, especially, is mourning his loss.
“It’s the end of an era,” said attorney Andy Davis with Brinson, Askew and Berry. “I look to him not only as a great jurist, but as an honest, fair man who was also a mentor. It’s a sad day; his whole life centered around his family and the law.”
END OF AN ERA
In 1991, Judge Murphy had been called to preside over a lawsuit in Alabama after all the judges in the state had been disqualified from presiding. The case involved practices used by institutions of higher learning that effectively continued segregation long after it had been abolished.
As with the removal of many of the practices during and after segregation, tempers ran high, but Judge Murphy was able to navigate the trial with aplomb and respect.
Everyone in the courtroom gave Judge Murphy a standing ovation for his ability and fairness in presiding over a protracted bench trial.
“All of the attorneys gave his honor a standing ovation for several minutes,” said Carlos A. González, one of Murphy’s former clerks who had been appointed as special master in that case. “It was reflective of the quality and fairness with which he conducted himself. It was the only time I saw Judge Murphy speechless in the courtroom.”
Another mark of that respect is that the standing ovation came before he made his ruling.
As his 1,000-page order in the case dismantled the vestiges of segregation in Alabama’s higher education system, he also maintained jurisdiction in that matter for over 16 years, González said.
He was later honored by Alabama State University, which named the Harold Lloyd Murphy Graduate School after him.
“He was possessed of unimaginable ability and the humility to make the most of it. Who else but Judge Murphy — a man who grew up in the segregated South — could end one of the most contentious racial desegregation cases in
the country with one of the publicly supported HBCUs in Alabama naming its graduate school for his honor,” González said. “A life well lived with integrity, honor, and courage; we should all aspire to the same. What a man, what a life.”
RESPECTED BY ALL
González reflected that Judge Murphy engendered loyalty from those who worked with him, just through his very nature. And, more importantly, he returned it.
“He was a good, decent, thoughtful and kindly man who was considered the best trial judge when he was active in the state of Georgia,” said Rome attorney Bob Finnell. “He was one of the best and he will be missed.”
Attorney Frank Beacham with Brinson, Askew and Berry said Judge Murphy was the reason he came to Rome and one of the reasons he stayed.
“Somehow I was lucky enough to land a job with him for two years,” Beacham said. “He was someone you learned from every day.”
To illustrate the living legend that was Judge Murphy, Beacham relayed a story he’d heard about a poll conducted by The Fulton County Daily Report, Georgia’s newspaper for lawyers.
That annual poll sought to honor the best judge in the state of Georgia, but year after year Murphy won the accolade and the newspaper finally stopped conducting the poll, he laughed.
Judge Murphy may not have set out to be a judge, but those who knew him or ended up in his courtroom know that was the place he was meant to be.
“Never did I intend to be a judge. Things change during your career that cause you to change your focus,” Murphy said during a Georgia Legal Services workshop in 2016. “It’s really a privilege to lead a judicial office and enforcement of the Constitution of the United States every day.”