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It's not a Thanksgiving story, but it does concern a couple of turkeys.
Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy, who successfully sued the Boston Herald in 2005 for libel, received a recommendation for public reprimand yesterday for "conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming of a judicial officer." The recommendation came from a report prepared by retired judge Peter W. Kilborn.
Following his libel suit, Murphy had sent two crazy, handwritten letters, one on judicial stationary, to Herald publisher Patrick Purcell. In one letter, he demanded that Purcell bring a $3.26 million check to a lunch meeting -- despite Purcell's pending appeal.
Murphy was the victim of some sloppy reporting. In 2002, David Wedge of the Herald wrote that Murphy told a 14 year old rape victim to "get over it," a claim that Wedge could not prove in court. The state supreme court upheld the judgment of libel earlier this year and ordered the Herald to pay Murphy a whopping $2.1 million.
And now it seems like the Herald has a full time Ernest Murphy reporter. Murphy, who is on paid disability leave because of the stress of the case, found himself on the Herald's cover last September holding wads of cash at the Saratoga Springs, NY horse racing track. The provocative headline: "Post-Time Stress Disorder."
With the revelation of the 2005 handwritten notes, this case just gets weirder. Judges aren't supposed to use official stationary for personal business, not to mention intimidating adversaries from exercising the right to appeal. Kilborn's report will be among the considerations when the Supreme Judicial Court decides what action to take, if any, against Murphy.
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