- Robert I. H. Hammerman
Robert I. H. Hammerman (
July 17 , 1928 — November, 2004) was aJew ish - American judge. He served as an associatejudge of the Supreme Bench in thecity of Baltimore,Maryland from 1967 to 1982, an associate judge of the Baltimore CityCircuit Court , 8th Judicial Circuit from 1983 to 1998 and itschief judge , from 1984 to 1998. He retiredJuly 17 , 1998 and died bysuicide in November, 2004.Background
Born in Baltimore, Maryland,
July 17 , 1928, Judge Hammerman attended theBaltimore City College (ahigh school ) and went on to graduate "cum laude" from theJohns Hopkins University , with aBachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in 1950. Hammerman was accepted to and graduated from theHarvard Law School (atHarvard University ) with hisJuris Doctor (J.D.) in 1953. He was admitted to Maryland Bar the same year and throughout his career was an active member of the American, Maryland State, and Baltimore CityBar Association s and theAmerican Judicature Society . [ [http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/31cc/former/html/msa11792.html Robert I. H. Hammerman, Maryland Circuit Court Judge ] ] He first took his oath as an associate judge on the bench of the Baltimore City Municipal Court onMay 1 , 1961. He joined the circuit court bench in May 1967, where he eventually served as chief judge from May 1984 until July 1998, when he reached themandatory retirement age of 70. He had been Maryland's longest serving judge to that point. [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r105:1:./temp/~r105DRYOTl:e1808: Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress) ] ] After his retirement, Hammerman continued on the bench as asenior judge , working full-time but limited by law to pay for only 120 days of service per year.Awards and Honors
*
Book of Golden Deeds Award ,National Exchange Club
*Man of the Year , Hebrew Noble Ladies
*Honor Roll for SuperiorPublic Service , Afro-American
*Annual Award forHumanitarian Service,National Council of Jewish Women
*President, Har Sinai Congregation Brotherhood.Judicial career
As a judge, Hammerman was known as a fair but tough
sentence r and a stickler for detail. Lawyers who showed up even one minute late for court were often verbally reprimanded orfine d. [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r105:1:./temp/~r105M7razC:e0: Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress) ] ] Early in his judicial career, Hammerman was the primary judge for juvenile offenders. He presided over the Juvenile Court for eight years, bringing it into compliance with a 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the rights to counsel for juvenile defendants. He presided over several high-profile cases, including thechild sexual abuse case against John Joseph Merzbacher Jr., alay teacher sentenced to four life sentences for repeatedrape and sexual abuse of one of his students in the 1970s at Catholic CommunityMiddle School in South Baltimore., aparochial school under the auspices of theArchdiocese of Baltimore . [cite news|last=Shatzin|first=Kate|title= Appeals Court Ruling Erases Suit Alleging Sex Abuse by Priest:Recovered Memories Not Allowed As Exceptions to Statute of Limitations|publisher=Baltimore Sun| url=http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/1996_08_21_Shatzkin_AppealsCourt_Jerome_Toohey_3.htm|date=1996-08-21|accessdate=2007-10-10]Civic activities
Hammerman never married nor had children but he had a strong commitment to the youth in Baltimore City. In 1952, he started a club for Jewish teenage boys called the Lancers. The club's activities included sports, cultural events and debates. Judge Hammerman scheduled guest speakers and set up community action projects for the group. [ [http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Hammerman_Robert.html#His Case of Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman (Baltimore, MD) ] ] The club eventually expanded into other areas of the city, bringing in non-Jews as well, some of which went on to creers in public service, such as
Kurt Schmoke , anAfrican American mayor of Baltimore City orCurt Anderson who later became chairman of theLegislative Black Caucus of Maryland . Many early members shared a connection with City College, the city's elite academic high school from which Hammerman graduated in 1946, and many went on, like Hammerman, to Johns Hopkins University.uicide
On
November 11 ,2004 , the body of Robert Hammerman was found outside his northwest Baltimore apartment, dead of an apparent self inflictedgunshot wound to the chest. The case was ruled asuicide because of, among other things, the letter that Hammerman had mailed the day before to more than 2000 people in and around Baltimore City. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49813-2004Nov14?language=printer washingtonpost.com: Despite Detailed Letter, Judge's Suicide Baffling ] ] Many of those who received the letters were lawyers or his colleagues on the Bench, though most of the recipients were past and present members of his beloved Lancers club. In the letter he cited the fear of growing old with Alzheimer's, a disease that had taken his mother for whom he had personally cared. Hammerman, however, had never been diagnosed with the disease."Some may say of me that it is an act of acoward ," he wrote in hissuicide note . "So be it. It is so easy for one outside the ring to tell the fighter how to fight his fight."References
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