Commissioner recommends suspension, fine for judge in Herald libel case

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A state judge should be suspended without pay for 30 days, fined $25,000 and publicly censured for sending two letters to the publisher of the Boston Herald in 2005 demanding that the newspaper drop its appeal of a libel verdict and hand him a check for $3.26 million, the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended today.

The commission said that Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy's actions, which included sending the letters to publisher Patrick J. Purcell on court stationery, reflected ``willful misconduct'' that had damaged the reputation of the judiciary. The recommendations now go to the state Supreme Judicial Court, which can accept or reject them.

The commission, whose ruling marks the latest twist in a war between the Herald and Murphy dating back five years, concluded that Murphy's letters were improperly intimidating and threatening and sought to coerce Purcell into settling the libel suit rather than pursuing an appeal.

The recommendations came after a two-day hearing in October at which Murphy and Purcell testified.

In 2002, the Herald published a series of stories that portrayed Murphy as a lenient judge. In one story quoting anonymous sources, the paper wrote that Murphy had instructed lawyers during a conference in his chambers to tell a 14-year-old rape victim to ``get over it.'' Murphy testified at a libel trial at Suffolk Superior Court that he had actually said they would have to help the victim to get over the rape.

Two days after a jury ordered the newspaper to pay him $2 million in damages, Murphy wrote Purcell a letter on court stationery. The judge urged Purcell not to appeal and instead demanded a confidential meeting to which the publisher should bring a check to settle the suit. In a second letter dated March 18, 2005, Murphy warned Purcell that he had ``a zero chance of reversing my jury verdict on appeal.''

Last June, lawyers for the Herald paid Murphy $3.4 million, including $1.4 million in interest.

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