Richard Gergel

Richard Mark Gergel (born August 14, 1954) is a South Carolina lawyer and United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Richard Gergel
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
Assumed office
August 9, 2010
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byHenry Michael Herlong, Jr.
Personal details
Born (1954-08-14) August 14, 1954
Columbia, South Carolina
Spouse(s)Belinda Gergel
EducationDuke University (B.A.)
Duke University School of Law (J.D.)

Early life and education

Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Gergel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1975 and a Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law in 1979.[1][2] Gergel's cousin was well known industrial chemist Max Gergel, President/CEO of the Columbia Organic Chemical Company, or COCC.[3]

Professional career

From 1979 until 1980, Gergel served as a law clerk for a law firm in Columbia, South Carolina, and he was a partner with the firm from 1981 until 1982. Beginning in 1983, and continuing until his nomination to the district court, he was the president and partner with his own law firm (most recently known as Gergel, Nickles and Solomon) in Columbia. He has specialized in personal injury law.[3]

Notable case

Gergel was the attorney representing the South Carolina Education Association and public school teacher Maggi Smith Hall. The case went to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA, and was considered one of the most important First Amendment cases to come down from the 4th Circuit in over a decade. At the time the 4th Circuit was also considered to be the most conservative court in the nation. (Laura Sullivan, Baltimore Sun, November 18, 2003)

The case, Hall vs. Marion School District 2, 31 F. 3d 183 (4th Cir. 1994) upheld the lower court's decision that Mullins District 2 acted illegally in firing Hall for exercising free speech in criticizing her superintendent and school board for reckless spending.

Federal judicial service

On December 22, 2009, President Obama nominated Gergel to serve on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, to fill the seat vacated by Judge Henry Michael Herlong, Jr., who assumed senior status on June 1, 2009.[1][3][4] In his questionnaire to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Gergel wrote that South Carolina Democratic Congressmen John M. Spratt, Jr. and Jim Clyburn both previously had recommended Gergel to Obama as a district court nominee, and that South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham also supported the nomination. Gergel had a hearing before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 16, 2010. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 5, 2010,[5] and received commission on August 9, 2010.[3]

Trial of Dylann Roof
Main article: Trial of Dylann Roof

Richard Gergel was the presiding judge on the trial of Dylann Roof, who was convicted of 33 federal charges relating to the 2015 Charleston church shooting. Roof was convicted on all charges and controversially represented himself during the sentencing phase despite Gergel warning Roof it was not in his best interests to do so. On January 11, 2017, Roof was sentenced to death by Gergel after the jury recommended the death penalty the previous day.[6] In January 2020, Roof appealed his death sentence to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.[7]

Author

Gergel is the author of Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019) and, with Belinda Gergel, of In Pursuit of the Tree of Life: A History of the Early Jews of Columbia, South Carolina (1996).

References
  1. President Obama Nominates Judge J. Michelle Childs, Richard Mark Gergel to District Court Bench for the District of South Carolina Archived February 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, whitehouse.gov (December 22, 2009).
  2. "Richard Mark Gergel Biography – Gergel Nickles & Solomon Attorneys At Law". Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  3. "Gergel, Richard Mark – Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  4. Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate, 12/22/09, whitehouse.gov (December 22, 2009).
  5. Monk, John (August 6, 2010). "Columbians Gergel, Childs Confirmed as Federal Judges". www.libertyfellowshipsc.org. The State. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  6. Blinder, Alan; Sack, Kevin (January 10, 2017). "Dylann Roof Is Sentenced to Death in Charleston Church Massacre". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  7. Coleman, Justine (January 29, 2020). "Dylann Roof appeals conviction, death sentence in South Carolina church shooting". The Hill.
Legal offices
Preceded by
Henry Michael Herlong, Jr.		 Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
2010–present		 Incumbent
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