Judge who sued Herald agrees to leave bench
Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy, who won a $2 million libel verdict against the Boston Herald and is facing a possible reprimand and fine for writing allegedly threatening letters to the newspaper, has agreed that he is disabled and will not return to the bench.
In a three-page order dated Tuesday and released yesterday, Supreme Judicial Court officials wrote that they have accepted an agreement between Murphy and the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that says the 65-year-old judge is "permanently disabled from performing his judicial duties" and will no longer sit as a judge in Massachusetts.
The state's highest court rejected Murphy's request to remain on paid administrative leave until he retires or is granted a disability pension from the governor and the Governor's Council. Instead, the court ruled that Murphy may continue to receive his judicial pay for up to 120 days but that payment will stop if he is granted a disability pension before then.
Murphy, who has said he suffers from post-traumatic stress as a result of his long legal battle with the Herald and stories the newspaper wrote about him, has been on a paid leave of absence since July 30, 2007.
The court kept the details of Murphy's disability claim impounded, citing his privacy rights.
In a separate one-page order, the SJC indicated it is still considering a request by the Judicial Conduct Commission to publicly censure Murphy, fine him $25,000, and suspend him without pay for 30 days for writing the letters to the Herald. Following its decision to accept Murphy's departure from the bench, however, it gave both Murphy and the commission until Sept. 9 to amend its filings in the other case.
Boston lawyer Michael E. Mone, who represents Murphy, declined to comment yesterday, saying it would be inappropriate to talk about Murphy's case because details of his disability remain impounded and the court is still weighing possible sanctions. In an interview last year, he said the judge had "significant physical and mental problems and significant post-traumatic disorder."
Howard Neff, a staff attorney for the Judicial Conduct Commission, declined to comment yesterday on the agreement or on whether the agency will continue to pursue sanctions against Murphy.
Murphy, who had been a lawyer for 30 years before his appointment to the bench in 2000, came under attack in a series of Herald articles in 2002 that portrayed him as soft on criminals and insensitive to victims. One story, quoting anonymous sources, alleged the judge had instructed lawyers during a conference in his chambers to tell a 14-year-old rape victim to "get over it."
Murphy, who successfully sued the Herald for libel, testified at the Suffolk Superior Court trial that he had said the victim would need help to get over the attack. The judge said the stories prompted a deluge of hate mail and threats to his family.
In February 2005, a jury found that the Herald had maliciously published false and defamatory material about Murphy and ordered the newspaper to pay him $2 million.
After the verdict, Murphy wrote two letters to Herald publisher Patrick Purcell on court stationery, demanding that the newspaper drop its appeal of the verdict and hand him a check for $3.26 million.
Murphy warned in the letters that it would be a "BIG mistake" for Purcell to share the letters with his lawyers and wrote, "You have a ZERO chance of reversing my jury verdict on appeal."
The Herald did not settle the case because of the letters, but published excerpts from them in December 2005, about the same time Murphy launched an unsuccessful effort to have the newspaper's assets frozen until his case was resolved.
During a hearing in November, Purcell testified that the letters were intimidating and looked like ransom notes. Murphy apologized for writing them on court stationery, but insisted they were truthful and proper. A hearing officer recommended a public reprimand for Murphy. But in April the Judicial Conduct Commission found the letters reflected "willful misconduct" that damaged the judiciary's reputation, and urged the Supreme Judicial Court to impose much tougher penalties.
The commission accused Murphy of trying to gouge the Herald with the demand of $3.26 million, because at that point, the Herald owed him only $2.8 million, including interest. Last year, after the SJC upheld the libel verdict, the Herald paid Murphy $3.41 million, which included the award plus the interest that had accrued since the verdict.
Court documents made public yesterday reveal that in October the commission filed a complaint, which was impounded, with the state's highest court alleging that Murphy "suffers from physical and/or mental disabilities that affect his performance."
On July 23, Murphy and the commission notified the court that they were in agreement that the judge was permanently disabled and would not return to the bench.
Mone would not comment yesterday on whether Murphy will renew his request for a disability pension or file for retirement.
A year ago, Governor Deval Patrick rejected Murphy's request for a disability pension, based on the judge's assertion that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his legal battle with the Herald and the stories the paper had written about him. 