Judge in Courtroom Death Reinstated

Panel Rules Jurist Believed Man Who Collapsed 'Was Feigning Illness'

Tim Murphy, the D.C. Superior Court senior judge who ignored the pleas of a dying man during an April court hearing, was reinstated two weeks ago after a sympathetic judicial review board decided, among other things, that he had "an extremely heavy workload" that day.

Robert L. Waters Jr., 54, who family members said was a lifelong asthmatic, collapsed April 20 in front of Murphy and died about 90 minutes later in a holding cell of an acute bronchial asthmatic attack. Questioned in the days after the incident, Murphy said he thought Waters "looked like a street person" and was faking his gasps for breath.

Murphy, 72, stepped down from the bench after the incident was publicized. Chief Judge Rufus King III said then that Murphy might not return to court when he finished an already-scheduled vacation.

King apologized to Waters's family. "No court does business this way," he said at the time.

But the Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure, after a 4 to 3 vote in October, recommended to King in a Nov. 13 letter that Murphy be reappointed. King said yesterday that he reassigned Murphy to the bench as a senior judge with the same salary, but restricted his duties to that of a backup judge rather than the more hectic calendar of a regular criminal trial judge. Murphy went back to work Nov. 27.

The chief judge said Murphy's actions and comments were "unfortunate" but didn't merit his being permanently stripped of his judge's robe.

"It was a terrible set of circumstances," King said. "But set against that, he's put in 35 years or more of service to the court, and that service has been characterized by a deep level of commitment to his work as a judge."

Waters's family, told about Murphy's reappointment, was furious.

"It's appalling," said Bonnie Brown, Waters's sister. "For [King] to apologize to us and then reappoint this judge just doesn't make any sense. Why did he bother to apologize in the first place?"

It's as if her brother's death "meant nothing to them," she said. "Now, it's back to business as usual."

Barry Balthrop Sr., Waters's brother, called the decision "terrible. Nothing has changed."

Murphy, who is paid about $120,000 a year, declined through a spokeswoman to comment on his return to the bench.

After Waters's death was made public, Murphy was not given any judicial assignments. On July 19, he submitted his request for a recommendation for reappointment as a senior judge to the commission -- something all judges under age 74 must do every four years if they're seeking appointment or reappointment to senior judge status.

The commission, according to its letter to King, investigated the incident and agreed that Murphy "violated the applicable provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct" and "eroded public confidence in the judiciary."