{"id":33484,"date":"2011-11-01T07:53:26","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T13:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=33484"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:51:23","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T21:51:23","slug":"murphy-on-defense-over-comments-about-gay-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/11\/murphy-on-defense-over-comments-about-gay-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Murphy on defense over comments about gay people"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Third Judicial District Judge Mike Murphy (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Warning: This article contains language that is explicit and that many will find offensive.<\/em><\/p>\n

With embattled District Judge Mike Murphy\u2019s secretly recorded comments about gay people eliciting a statewide outcry, Murphy\u2019s lawyer said Monday that his client has been and will continue to be supportive of the gay community.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Murphy has always treated litigants equally and with respect regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual preference and he will continue to do so\u00a0when he returns to the bench,\u201d attorney Michael Stout wrote in an e-mail to reporters. \u201cHe will continue to treat all persons equally and with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Stout didn\u2019t issue the apology some are seeking from Murphy.<\/p>\n

The judge, who is facing bribery charges<\/a> and is on suspension without pay, has been under fire for his comments about gay people since KOB-TV in Albuquerque reported last week<\/a> on the audio recording, which was secretly made by District Judge Lisa Schultz in December 2010.<\/p>\n

During the meeting with Schultz, Murphy made a number of statements some view as offensive \u2013 including detailing a conversation in which he told a court employee \u201ca big old nasty faggot joke\u201d because that employee was gay, and describing a cousin who is a lesbian as \u201ca diesel dike from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy spoke during the conversation with Schultz about an apparent investigation into his conduct, referencing \u201cmy confidential deal about being, you know, uh, anti-gay, anti-Semitic.\u201d He said such allegations are \u201ca crock of shit. You know, I may be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, but I\u2019m none of those other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lost in the media reporting, Stout said Monday, is the fact that Murphy was \u201ctalking privately in a friendly manner to an openly gay person,\u00a0in part discussing gay politics and how to make improvement on gay issues.\u00a0Not reported was that he\u00a0praised the ending of \u2018Don\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u2019 in the military and the advances on gay marriage;\u00a0he bemoaned the unfairness of\u00a0bullying of gays in schools, the firing of a gay court employee and the stereotyping of gays by society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stout is correct. Murphy also said all of those things during the conversation with Schultz.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yet to issue a formal apology\u2019<\/h3>\n

Stout\u2019s comments came in response to the group Equality New Mexico (EQNM) sending out a news release<\/a> calling Murphy\u2019s comments \u201cderogatory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Murphy has called into question the fundamental belief that all New Mexicans, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, actually receive a fair hearing \u2013untainted by bias or bigotry \u2013 when they appear before a judge,\u201d said Jacob Candelaria, the head of Equality NM.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s worse is that while Judge Murphy has tried to excuse his offensive and unacceptable behavior, he has yet to issue a formal apology to the LGBT families of this state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stout didn\u2019t apologize, but he said Murphy was \u201cpained that his private comments have hurt anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u00a0agrees with EQNM\u2019s goals and will continue to help achieve them,\u201d Stout said. \u201cAs he said\u00a0in his private\u00a0(though secretly recorded)\u00a0conversation,\u00a0sexual preference of an individual has \u2018all the significance of being left-handed.\u2019 It is an irrelevant consideration both in court proceedings and\u00a0otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stout is correct that Murphy\u2019s comments about gay people have nothing to do with the bribery case, though one felony bribery charge is based on other comments contained in Schultz\u2019s secret recording. Stout took issue with the recording being included in court records by prosecutor Matt Chandler, which is how the recording became public.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Murphy\u2019s secretly-recorded, private conversations\u00a0were perfectly lawful. This water-cooler talk has nothing whatsoever to do with bribery or any other charge,\u201d Stout said. \u201cAttaching\u00a0this recording to a court document was a calculated attempt to convict an\u00a0innocent man of a crime through the use of irrelevant, though sensational, language. In the end Judge Murphy\u2019s innocence will shine through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comments have \u2018eroded public confidence\u2019 in judiciary<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe real tragedy here,\u201d Candelaria said, \u201cis that Judge Murphy\u2019s comments have further eroded public confidence in the judicial system.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a weekend editorial<\/a>, the Albuquerque Journal agreed \u2013 not only as it relates to Murphy\u2019s comments about gay people, but also with regard to the allegations<\/a> that Murphy told several people he paid money for his appointment and told another potential judicial hopeful she had to do the same.<\/p>\n

From the Journal editorial:<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Murphy needs to ask himself if he would want someone who lacks a filter between brain and mouth to preside over his own case \u2013 perhaps someone whose witty repertoire includes you-might-be-a-redneck jokes. And he should ask whether it\u2019s justice for serious cases to languish because a judge\u2019s conduct is in question. And whether the entire judiciary should pay the consequences of his shoot-from-the-lip modus operandi.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to Murphy\u2019s application seeking a judicial appointment, he promised he would \u2018always try to preserve the good public repute of the court.\u2019 He fell woefully short of that mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should try to repair it by apologizing and resigning.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With embattled District Judge Mike Murphy\u2019s comments about gay people eliciting a statewide outcry, Murphy\u2019s lawyer said Monday that his client has been and will continue to be supportive of the gay community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,216,161,233,114],"class_list":["post-33484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-judge-murphy","tag-judiciary","tag-gay-and-lesbian-issues","tag-public-corruption"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}