Those of you who mentioned being in New Haven for Bobby Seale's trial
might be interested in this.

============================================================
New Haven Register
Mon, Feb 28, 2000
Noted jurist Mulvey dies of cancer at 86
By Angela Carter and Randall Beach

NEW HAVEN - Former Superior Court Judge Harold M. Mulvey, best known for
presiding over the explosive Black Panther trial in the early 1970s, died
Sunday after battling cancer.

"(Mulvey) was world-renowned for the way he handled that case," said his
friend, John Reynolds, a state trial refereee, now in his 40th year on the
bench. "He did a masterful job in a case where emotions were running high."

Mulvey, 86, served 17 years on the bench until December 1984 when he reached
70, the mandatory retirement age.

But he returned within a week as a state trial referee, handling civil
cases, an assignment he continued until last December.

He died at Whitney Center in Hamden, where he had been living for about a
month.

Mulvey often told his nephew, Kenneth Mulvey Jr. of Guilford, also an
attorney, that lawyering was a continuous learning process.

"He always told me that by listening to what others say you can learn more
than chattering away yourself."

The six-month murder trial of Panthers Bobby G. Seale and Ericka Huggins
ended in a hung jury.

Thousands flanked the New Haven Green during mass demonstrations across from
the Superior Court building.

Seale, who was chairman of the revolutionary Black Panther Party, stood
accused of ordering the slaying of fellow party member Alex Rackley.

Rackley was fingered as an informer to police and the FBI's
counterintelligence program. His body was found in a Middlefield marsh in
May 1969.

Mulvey dismissed the charges against Seale and Huggins on May 24, 1971,
almost two years to the day Rackley's body was found, saying then it
would've taken "superhuman effort" to select a second jury.

Reynolds described Mulvey as thorough, a perfectionist and "one of the
finest judges we've had in the state of Connecticut in my time."

Mulvey's nephew said he was a private, quiet person who did not talk much
about the Panthers trial, other than to say each side made its best effort.

"He believed court business should stay in the court," Kenneth Mulvey said.

Mulvey was chief corporation counsel in New Haven from 1961 to 1963 during
the administration of his longtime friend, Mayor Richard C. Lee. Prior to
that, Mulvey was Lee's assistant corporation counsel for seven years.

The city native resigned as corporation counsel to accept Gov. John N.
Dempsey's appointment as state's attorney general, a post he held for four
years.

Lee said that during Mulvey's years as a judge, "He conducted himself with
great dignity and unswerving dedication to the law."

Lee was particularly impressed with Mulvey's leadership during the Black
Panthers trial.

"When the jury could not reach a verdict, Judge Mulvey played the part of
Solomon and declared a mistrial," Lee said. "He took the bull by the horns
by not calling for a new trial.

"That was courageous," Lee noted, "because it lanced the boil." Mulvey
graduated from James Hillhouse High School, Fordham College and Fordham
University Law School. He became a member of the New Haven County and
Connecticut Bar Associations and worked as an active partner in the Mulvey,
Falsey, Shay, Del Sole and Grazioso law firm.

Mulvey also served as a commander in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War
II, landing aircraft during combat with Japanese forces.

The Sisk Brothers Funeral Home, Hamden, is in charge of funeral
arrangements, which are incomplete.
============================================================