Judge Mark Murphy appointed to Superior Court seat
As Governor Nathan Deal gets ready to leave office, he had some last minute business to finish up including the appointment of someone to fill a seat on the Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court.
It will be easy for everyone to continue saying “Judge Murphy” for the time being as Deal’s office announced on Friday that Mark Murphy, the current head of the juvenile court, is being moved up to a new bench.
Murphy replaces the nowretired Judge Michael Murphy from Haralson County, who gave up the seat after two decades of service with his final day on Halloween.
He said he was excited to get into his new position on the bench.
“I am humbled and deeply honored by the opportunity that Governor Nathan Deal has given me to serve our community on the Superior Court bench. I’ve lived in the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit my entire life,” Murphy said. “I was born in Polk County, grew up in Haralson County and moved to Polk County a few years ago.”
He added that “As the Circuit’s Juvenile Court judge for the past 21 years, I’ve been committed to the welfare of our community for a long time. I am grateful for the opportunity to continue serving our community in the Superior Court. When people come to court, they are dealing with some of their most challenging problems.”
“My goal is to provide them with a courtroom experience where they leave feeling that they’ve been treated fairly and that justice has been done,” Murphy said.
One of the areas that Murphy was hard at work on as the appointment comes was establishing a Juvenile Court’s Family Treatment Accountability Court to try and curb the increase in children entering foster care after parents become addicted to alcohol or drugs.
He said he remains 100 percent committed to making the court work.
“In my view this is one of the most valuable Juvenile Court programs we have had the opportunity to provide for hurting families in our community. We are just now staffing our first group of parents to start their treatment program. We have a good treatment team who is fully trained.
He added that he and the team who makes up the Family Treatment Accountability Court just finished training and “are ready to launch.”
“My plan is to work with our team as long as needed to get it up and running. Until a new Juvenile Court judge is appointed and feels ready to work with the treatment court, I will be there,” Murphy said. “The accountability court program is one of Governor Deal’s criminal justice reform programs. These accountability court programs offer defendants suffering from untreated mental health and drug abuse problems a real opportunity for rehabilitation and escape from a life of crime.”
Murphy comes to the Superior Court with not only decades of experience already on the bench, but years of education as well. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech and a law degree from the Georgia State University College of Law.
He lives in Cedartown and has three children.
That marks a departure for the past several years on the Tallapoosa Circuit, where Haralson judges have represented both counties on the bench.