Longtime San Antonio judge with a storied past dies at 84
Judge Sarah E. Garrahanmoulder, a retired jurist and litigator who was part of the team that prosecuted the assassin of a federal judge in San Antonio in the 1970s, has died.
Garrahan-moulder, known for her signature red hair, Irishgreen robe and the sounds of her Fiesta medals clinking through the halls of the Bexar County justice center every spring, died March 26 at 84.
A native of Stockdale who graduated as valedictorian of her high school, Garrahan-moulder soon married and moved to San Antonio, where she raised three children and pursued a college education, becoming a member of the first graduating class of the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1977, relatives said.
Garrahan-moulder pursued and completed a law degree from St. Mary’s University, passed the Texas bar exam in 1981 and began work as an assistant U.S. attorney.
She soon became part of the team of federal prosecutors and husband-and-wife duo Ray and Leroy Jahn that secured the 1982 conviction of Charles Harrelson for killing U.S. District Judge John H. Wood in 1979.
The federal courthouse in San Antonio was renamed for the judge after he was shot to death outside his apartment here in a contract killing ordered by Jimmy Chagra, who was awaiting trial before Wood on drug charges. Harrelson, the father of actor Woody Harrelson, drew two life sentences and died of a heart attack in his cell in 2007.
In 1986, Garrahan-moulder was elected judge of Bexar County Court-at-law No. 4. Courthouse observers say her personal popularity helped her keep that bench for nearly three decades until her retirement in 2014.
Judge Bert Richardson of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals fondly recalled meeting his mentor and friend when he was assigned to her court as a young misdemeanor prosecutor “fresh out of law school.”
“Sometimes it was like having your nice grandmother on the bench,” Richardson said. “She was just very kind, so polite. It was a great way to start my career.”
Family members described Garrahan-moulder as kind and generous, a pillar of strength and integrity. Courthouse observers called her one of the nicest jurists at the justice center.
“She was always professional, yet friendly to everyone, no matter their party affilation or status in life,” said Melissa Barlow Severtson, chief administrative attorney for the Bexar County Dis
trict Attorney’s Office.
For many years after her retirement, Garrahanmoulder often sat as a visiting judge, Severtson recalled.
Judge Sid Harle, who presides over the Fourth Administrative Region and places visiting judges, said Garrahan-moulder was a regular in jail court, but expressed an interest in stepping back a few months before
the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“She decided she was ready to bow out,” Harle said. “She wanted to visit her daughter. She worked hard and was well-respected.”
Garrahan-moulder was preceded in death by her second husband, former Express-news reporter John Moulder, and a sister, Joyce Shaver.
She is survived by two daughters, Judye Garrahan Mobley and Valerie Kim Garrahan Pisano; a son,
Donald Rick Garrahan; her first husband, Richard M. Garrahan; two sisters, Irene Gage and Violet Glover; a brother, Norman Kallies; three grandchildren; and one great-grandson.
Because of the coronvirus pandemic, the family has decided not to hold funeral services. Well-wishers are invited to share memories at porterloring.com, and donate to a charity of choice.