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Richard Gergel | |
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| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of South Carolina | |
| Assumed office August 9, 2010 | |
| Appointed by | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Henry Michael Herlong Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Mark Gergel (1954-08-14)August 14, 1954 (age 71) |
| Spouse | Belinda Gergel |
| Education | Duke University (BA,JD) |
Richard Mark Gergel (born August 14, 1954) is an American lawyer who serves as aUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Born inColumbia, South Carolina, Gergel earned aBachelor of Arts degree fromDuke University in 1975 and aJuris Doctor fromDuke University School of Law in 1979.[1][2] Gergel's cousin was well-known industrial chemistMax Gergel, President/CEO of the Columbia Organic Chemical Company, or COCC.[3]
From 1979 until 1980, Gergel served as alaw 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 inpersonal injury law.[3]
In 1994, Gergel was the attorney representing the South Carolina Education Association and public school teacher Maggi Smith Hall. The case went to theFourth Circuit Court of Appeals inRichmond, VA, and was considered one of the most importantFirst 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 v. 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.
On December 22, 2009, PresidentBarack Obama nominated Gergel to serve on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina to fill the seat vacated by JudgeHenry Michael Herlong, Jr., who assumedsenior status on June 1, 2009.[1][3][4] In his questionnaire to theUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Gergel wrote that South Carolina Democratic CongressmenJohn M. Spratt, Jr. andJim 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 theUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 16, 2010. He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on August 5, 2010,[5] and received commission on August 9, 2010.[3]
Gergel was the presiding judge on the trial ofDylann Roof, who was convicted of 33 federal charges relating to the 2015Charleston 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, Gergel sentenced Dylann Roof to death after the jury recommended thedeath penalty the previous day.[6]
Gergel is the author ofUnexampled 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, ofIn Pursuit of the Tree of Life: A History of the Early Jews of Columbia, South Carolina (1996).[7]
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of South Carolina 2010–present | Incumbent |
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