Eleventh Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Patrick William Murphy
Retention Year: 2022
Recommendation: Meets Performance Standard
Reports:
2022 Retention Survey Report (PDF)
2019 Interim Survey Report (PDF)
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The Eleventh Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance voted 10 – 0 that Judge Patrick William Murphy MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS. The Colorado statutory judicial performance standards are integrity, legal knowledge, communication skills, judicial temperament, administrative performance, and service to the legal profession and the public.
Judge Murphy presides over criminal, civil, domestic relations and probate matters in his courtroom. Judge Murphy received high marks in case management, application and knowledge of law, communications, diligence, demeanor and fairness. Judge Murphy’s calm and respectful demeanor in the courtroom was observed by the Commission during their observations and he received positive comments for giving proceedings a sense of dignity, treating participants with respect and having a sense of compassion and human understanding for those who appear before him.
The Commission conducted a personal interview with Judge Murphy, reviewed opinions he authored, observed him in court, reviewed comments received from interested parties during the evaluation and reviewed surveys sent to attorneys and non-attorneys who had experience with Judge Murphy. Among the survey questions was “based on your response to the previous questions related to the performance evaluation criteria, do you think Judge Murphy meets judicial performance standards?” Of the attorneys responding to the survey, 81% answered, yes, meets performance standards, 19% answered, no, does not meet performance standards. Of non-attorneys responding to the survey, 79% answered, yes, meets performance standards, 14% responded, no, does not meet performance standards and 7% had no opinion regarding whether Judge Murphy meets or does not meet performance standards. (These percentages may not total 100% due to rounding). A total of 36 attorneys and 19 non-attorneys responded to the judicial performance surveys expressing their opinion of Judge Murphey’s performance.
Judge Murphy was appointed to the bench in September 2012 and took the bench January 2013. Prior to that, Judge Murphy was Office Head – Salida Regional Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. A Denver native and graduate from Denver Public Schools, Judge Murphy received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American History from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1989 and graduated with a law degree from the University of Colorado school of Law in 1993. Judge Murphy then began work with the Office of the State Public Defender working in Denver, Trinidad and La Junta before moving to Salida in 1995, where he still resides. In 2003 he became the head of the Salida Regional Office of the Colorado State Public Defender and was appointed to be a District Judge by Governor Hickenlooper in 2012 taking the bench in January of 2013. In 2015 he was named Chief Judge of the 11th Judicial District by Chief Justice Nancy Rice.