A censured judge faces a well-connected challenger in NC Court of Appeals primary

A censured judge is up for reelection for the first time since he was disciplined by the state’s highest court for contributing to a “toxic work environment” in which his assistant and friend was accused of sexually harassing female clerks.

Hunter Murphy, first elected to the N.C. Court of Appeals in 2016, is the only Republican judge elected statewide who is facing a primary challenger. His opponent, Chris Freeman, is a district court judge in Rockingham County who is a friend of Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr.

The state Supreme Court censured Murphy in 2020 after an investigation found a pattern of sexual harassment and threatening behavior from Murphy’s executive assistant and friend, Ben Tuite, toward female clerks in the office. Murphy failed to stop the behavior, the Supreme Court said, and downplayed it to investigators.

In an interview with The News & Observer, Murphy said he regretted what happened and had made changes in his office to prevent future inappropriate behavior.

“I’m really very sorry that they didn’t feel like they could be completely open and honest with me when I thought that I was trying to foster that environment, but I failed to do that,” he said.

Censures from the court are rare, and Murphy remains the only appeals court judge to receive a public reprimand since 2007.

Freeman vs. Murphy primary

Despite the censure, the campaign between Freeman and Murphy has remained relatively quiet, as judicial campaigns typically are.

Freeman’s campaign website and Facebook page make no mention of Murphy’s censure, and in fact hardly mention Murphy at all, other than to say he is running against him.

Asked about Murphy’s censure, Freeman said he wouldn’t comment on it.

“I run a clean campaign,” he said. “I’ll tell people about myself all day long, but people can do their own research on that and form their thoughts when they vote.”

Freeman has attended campaign events across the state, speaking at candidate forums and posting photos with popular North Carolina Republicans such as Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.

Murphy, however, said he isn’t focused on campaigning — at least for the primary.

“You can’t do this job and be a father and burn up I-40 and I-85,” he said.

Murphy also said he isn’t raising or spending any money during the primary. Freeman has raised nearly $26,000 this election.

Top Republicans

The state’s top Republicans haven’t officially endorsed a candidate in the race, though Freeman has close ties with Berger and has said his campaign has the “help and support” of Berger’s father, Senate leader Phil Berger.

Before becoming a judge, Freeman worked as an assistant district attorney in Rockingham County at the same time the younger Berger was the district attorney.

In December, Freeman posted a photo of himself with the two Bergers, writing that he was “grateful for the help and support of Senator Berger and Justice Berger in my campaign for the North Carolina Court of Appeals.”

Statewide judicial rules forbid sitting judges from publicly supporting candidates unless the judge is a candidate themselves. However, Berger Jr. has endorsed candidates in the past when he wasn’t immediately up for reelection, but had announced a reelection campaign for years in the future.

Though no endorsements have come from the state’s top judicial officials in this race, Freeman did receive an endorsement from Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, a member of the ultraconservative U.S. House Freedom Caucus who is running for attorney general.

Freeman has also gained the support of several conservative groups, including Citizen Advocates for Accountable Government. One of CAAG’s founders, Dale Lands, said it was time to replace Murphy in part because some of his rulings had been “a little more to the middle.”

Lands said Freeman is a “good constitutional conservative.”

Despite Freeman’s campaigning, Murphy said he’s confident he maintains support among the party as the incumbent.

Investigation for toxic work environment

The Supreme Court censured Murphy in December 2020 upon a recommendation from the Judicial Standards Commission, which oversees ethics complaints against judges.

Since 2017, the commission had been investigating complaints of sexual harassment and a toxic work environment in Murphy’s office.

In its report, the commission laid out an extensive timeline of inappropriate behavior from Tuite toward women in the office. According to the report, he made lewd comments about women’s bodies, threatened their jobs and engaged in “profane, violent and angry outbursts” in front of Murphy.

The report also said that Murphy “lacked candor and downplayed, minimized and mischaracterized” Tuite’s behavior when speaking with human resources for the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Murphy told The N&O that several years after his censure, he was diagnosed with autism.

“I wish I had known more about myself so that I could have put up better safeguards,” he said. “... Human nature is to be more subtle about those types of things, so I don’t always pick up on that subtlety in normal conversations.”

While the Supreme Court’s censure acknowledged that Murphy was not immediately aware of all of Murphy’s actions, it wrote that Murphy was informed about Tuite’s behavior at least twice and was present for several of Tuite’s outbursts or inappropriate comments.

“Still, respondent chose not to address these issues,” the censure said. “... By failing to correct Mr. Tuite’s conduct, respondent implicitly condoned it and, as a result, the conduct continued.”

Murphy said he now schedules routine evaluations with his staff where they have an opportunity to inform him of any potential inappropriate behavior they’ve experienced.