Frank G. Mahady
Frank G. Mahady was a Vermont attorney and judge. He was appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court in 1987, but never confirmed by the Senate; he withdrew his confirmation request on April 3, 1988.
Early life
Frank Gordon "Skip" Mahady was born in Taunton, Massachusetts on March 31, 1939, the son of Frank D. and Doris Mahady. He was raised in Hartford, Vermont, and graduated from Hartford High School in 1957. As a boy, Mahady crushed a hand between two train cars while playing in the railroad yards of White River Junction. As a teenager, he lost an eye to an accident with a BB gun. He received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1961, and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1964; Patrick Leahy was one of Mahady's law school classmates.Start of career
Mahady was admitted to the bar in 1964, and practiced law until 1967. A liberal Republican, he was recognized as a protege of Lieutenant Governor and Vermont Supreme Court Justice Thomas L. Hayes and Vermont Attorney General and federal Judge James L. Oakes. Mahady served as an Assistant Attorney General from 1967 to 1968, and Deputy Attorney General from 1968 to 1969, when Oakes served as Attorney General. In 1967, Mahady was the Vermont coordinator for the George W. Romney presidential campaign; he resigned after joining the Vermont Attorney General's office in order to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest.From 1969 to 1972, Mahady served as Windsor County's State's Attorney, and he was a delegate to the 1972 Republican National Convention. He then resumed the practice of law, and continued until he was appointed to the bench in 1982. While in private practice, Mahady was contracted to serve as Windsor County's public defender in 1972 and 1973. In 1977, testimony at a trial indicated that Mahady had accepted a $5,000 fee from a client in 1973 to work on a private case while he was supposed to work only on cases in his role as a public defender. He argued that he had received oral permission from Vermont's Defender General, and was cleared of wrongdoing by Vermont's Professional Conduct Board. In 1978, a Vermont Superior Court judge ruled in a civil trial that Mahady had broken the law by accepting the payment, and fined him one dollar, but denied the state attorney general's request to have Mahady forfeit the money.
Judicial career
In 1982, Mahady was appointed a judge of the Vermont District Court. In 1984, Vermont authorities carried out raids against the Northeast Kingdom Community Church, and seized more than 100 children on the grounds of suspected child abuse. The state attempted to maintain custody of the children, even though there was scant evidence of wrongdoing by their parents. In response, Hayes, then serving as the state's administrative judge, assigned Mahady to hear motions. Mahady conducted 40 hearings in one day, determined that there was insufficient evidence of child abuse, and ordered the children returned to the custody of their parents.Later in 1984, Mahady presided over the trial of protesters—the "Winooski 44"—who had occupied the Winooski office of Senator Robert Stafford to protest U.S. involvement in civil wars and insurgencies in Central America, and refused to leave until Stafford agreed to hold a public meeting to discuss the topic. Mahady allowed 26 of the defendants to employ the necessity defense. Necessity enabled the defendants to argue that they broke the law by occupying Stafford's office as a way to draw attention to the larger supposed crimes associated with U.S. activities in El Salvador and Nicaragua. The trial ended with acquittals of all 26 defendants.
Mahady's support for individual liberties earned him nicknames including "Freedom Frank"—a compliment from his admirers, and an epithet from his detractors, who argued that he treated defendants too leniently. While serving as a district court judge, Mahady moved to Essex Junction, Vermont, where he resided for the rest of his life.