John Ellsworth Murphy (October 27, 1925 Omaha, Nebraska – November 12, 1984, Omaha Nebraska) was a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
and
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
. From 1960 to 1978 he served as a judge on the district 8 court of Nebraska. The most notable cases over which he presided were the bribery cases against then Mayor
James Dworak
James J. Dworak (January 4, 1925 Omaha, Nebraska - November 6, 2002 California) was mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, from 1961 to 1965.
Private and business life
Mr. Dworak was born in Omaha and graduated from Omaha Technical High School in 1943. He ...
and four others and a murder case against Robert Julian Jacobs. Also, he was the judge who heard the first part of the legal battle that occurred when Omaha annexed the town of
Millard Millard may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places in the United States
* Millard, Missouri, a village
* Millard, Omaha, Nebraska, a former suburb and present-day neighborhood of Omaha
* Millard Creek, Pennsylvania
* Millard County, Utah
* Millard, Virginia, an ...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Personal and civic life
Murphy was the son of
Emmett Emmett may refer to:
Places
;In the United States
* Emmett, Idaho
* Emmett, Kansas
* Emmett, Michigan, a village in St. Clair County
* Emmett Charter Township, Michigan in Calhoun County
* Emmett Township, St. Clair County, Michigan
* Emmett, Misso ...
and Georgia (Adams). Murphy served as a private first class in the US Army during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, receiving in July 1945 a bronze star for meritorious service from February 20, 1945, to April 26, 1945, in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Two years later, in December 1947, he became engaged to his soon to be wife, Mary Beth Hill (b. December 17, 1922, in Omaha), daughter of Lloyd Miller Hill (b. June 13, 1869, in Wisconsin) and Cecilia Sinnett (b. March 5, 1899), whom he married on September 4, 1948. After the war he attended
Creighton University School of Law
Creighton University School of Law, located in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, is a component of the Jesuit Creighton University. According to Creighton's official 2019 ABA-required disclosures, 75% of the Class of 2019 obtained full-time, long-t ...
and received his law degree in 1950.
He also served in the
US Army Reserves
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Since July 2020, ...
, first as battalion executive officer of the 416 Ordnance Battalion, and later the 82nd Field Hospital, and by 1958 had attained the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. That year he was elected judge advocate of the Nebraska Reserve Officers Association. In 1961,
President Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
mobilized the national guard in reaction to the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
and its tensions with the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
and
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. Newly assigned to the 82nd, Murphy reported to
Fort Carson, Colorado
Fort Carson is a United States Army post located directly south of Colorado Springs in El Paso, Pueblo, Fremont, and Huerfano counties, Colorado, United States. The developed portion of Fort Carson is located near the City of Colorado Springs ...
.
John and Mary Beth had 8 children, Colleen, Mary, Michael, Daniel, Elizabeth, Sue, Therese, and Joe.
Early legal career
Murphy passed the bar in 1950. He served as a lawyer until 1956 when he was elected to a judgeship in the
municipal court City court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cases ...
s. He participated in politics during that time, serving as treasurer for
Democratic candidate
Joseph V. Bensch in his unsuccessful senate campaign in 1954. He also was a member of the Omaha Youth Commission and a member of the North Omaha
Kiwanis
Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...
club, and served as President in 1957. His work on the bench exposed him to many cases involving alcohol abuse, and he joined the Omaha Area Council on Alcoholism, being elected vice-chairman of the group in 1960 and for some years after.
Municipal court
In 1956 two municipal judges retired and Murphy was endorsed by the Citizens Committee for Law Enforcement as well as by the
Omaha World Herald
The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...
, and he ran fifth in the election in which the top five were placed on the bench.
As municipal court judge, Murphy's most high-profile case was one against Horace C. Buckingham who pleaded no contest for accusations that he had obtained money under false pretenses, having been paid for asphaltic oil that was never delivered.
District bench
In 1960 he initially filed for his post at the municipal bench to be renewed, but by March had decided instead to run for district judge in the Fourth District of the Nebraska Courts, for which he was endorsed by the Omaha Judicial Citizens Committee, Omaha Bar Association, and the Omaha Civil Liberties Union. He was elected and initially slated to handle equity cases and civil lawsuits heard without juries – many of his cases would involve
drunken driving
Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash.
In the United States, alcohol is invo ...
and driving infractions. Soon after his election he was temporarily replaced on the district bench by Edward A. Mullery while he served in Colorado in the National Guard from October 1, 1961, to August 6, 1962.
In 1962 Nebraska did away with popular judicial elections at the Supreme Court and District Court Levels, replacing elections with yes/no for each judge on the ballot resulting in a smoother re-election scheme. Murphy was retained in 1964 and 1970 elections. In 1964–1965 and again in 1970, he was elected by the other district 4 judges to the position of presiding judge over the court, replacing Paul J. Garrotto.
Notable cases
As a district court judge, Murphy occasionally heard capital cases, cases where the death penalty was an allowed punishment. One prominent example was in the case of the slaying of 86-year-old Anna Dunning by William Henry Kauffman and Walter Edward Frans, who together plead guilty and received instead sentences of life in prison.
In 1967, Omaha began its attempt to annex Millard, which quickly escalated to a legal battle, which Murphy oversaw in the district courts. The case escalated, eventually going to the US Supreme Court (which refused the case), and Millard was finally annexed in 1971.
On October 16, Robert Julian Jacobs (AKA Anthony Ruiz) stabbed to death 12-year-old Allen Schmidt and stabbed Allen's brother Leslie during a sex-related attack. Murphy presided over the trial in which Jacobs pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was found guilty of first degree murder in a trial without a jury (no jury was at the request of the defense). Murphy's sentence was especially unique. He stated that he was very close to sentencing Jacobs to the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, but felt that Jacobs "abnormal" mental and emotional state led him to spare Jacobs' life. He stated that he did not endorse abolition of the death penalty, as that would be a legislative matter, and that the death penalty was a fit punishment for those convicted of a hired killing, for inmates who killed guards, for mass killers such as those who bomb airlines, and for "many other kinds". Instead Murphy sentenced Jacobs to two life sentences plus 50 years with the special provision that Jacobs be placed in
solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
for 24 hours every year on the anniversary of the murder. In jail, Jacobs attacked other inmates and was not allowed into the general population. He committed suicide in his cell on October 21, 1972, about 8 months after sentencing.
Mayor Dworak bribery case
One of the most important political cases Judge Murphy presided over was a case accusing Mayor James Dworak of soliciting
bribes
Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...
. Dworak was first elected mayor in a tight race in 1961. His tenure was rocky, and during his re-election campaign in 1965 he was taped asking for a $25,000 campaign contribution in exchange for not vetoing a rezoning application of Chicago developer John B. Coleman. Dworak lost his bid for re-election while under indictment. The following spring he was acquitted by the jury, his main defense being that he was stringing Coleman along and. Murphy presided over the cases of the four other men indicted under similar accusations. Murphy initially dismissed the case against Planning Board member Carville R. "Barney" Buttner, while the others were tried together and all found guilty. and appealed. The Nebraska Supreme Court overturned Murphy's dismissal of the case against Buttner, who then pleaded no contest to a charge of malfeasance in public office, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a fine of $200. The Court upheld charges against the others.
Later career
In 1974 Murphy was one of two district court judges who were nominated by other district court judges for a position on the
Nebraska Supreme Court
The Nebraska Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Nebraska. The court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. Each justice is initially appointed by the governor of Nebraska; using the Missouri Plan, each just ...
. However, the other judge,
Donald Brodkey, was selected by state Governor
J. James Exon
John James "Jim" Exon (August 9, 1921June 10, 2005) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 33rd Governor of Nebraska from 1971 to 1979, and as a U.S. Senator from Nebraska from 1979 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Par ...
. In 1978 Murphy announced plans to step down from the district court in favor of a position as an administrative law judge for the Social Security Division of the
US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. However, between that announcement and the start of the new job, Murphy changed his mind, instead taking a position as general counsel for
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. Upon retirement, County Attorney Donald Knowles called Murphy "by far one of the best".
["Judge Murphy Quitting for U.S. Job", Omaha World Herald, 01-13-1978; Page: 1] Murphy died of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
November 12, 1984.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, John Ellsworth
1925 births
1984 deaths
Lawyers from Omaha, Nebraska
20th-century American lawyers
Creighton University School of Law alumni