[blindlaw] FW: Nation's First Blind Federal Judge Dies

[McCarthy, Jim]

Some may remember the appointment of Judge Casey.
Jim McCarthy 

-----Original Message-----
From: James Elekes [mailto:jelekes at sc.rr.com] 
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 8:26 PM
Subject: Nation's First Blind Federal Judge Dies


> From Jim Elekes (jelekes at sc.rr.com):



>Nation's First Blind Federal Judge Dies
>
>By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
>
>NEW YORK (AP) -- Richard Conway Casey, who was the nation's first blind

>federal trial judge and presided over high-profile cases including an 
>abortion-law challenge and the Peter Gotti trial, has died at the age 
>of 74.
>
>Casey, who spent almost a decade on the bench, died Thursday, his 
>office said. The cause was an apparent heart attack.
>
>Casey was nominated for federal judgeship by President Clinton in 1997,

>10 years after he became blind from an inherited degenerative eye 
>disease.
>
>He was a fixture in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan, arriving 
>each morning with his guide dog, Barney.
>
>Casey sat over several trials that attracted public interest. In 
>addition to the constitutional challenge of the federal Partial-Birth 
>Abortion Ban Act, he presided over the prosecution of Gotti, the 
>Gambino crime family boss.
>
>On the bench, he was blunt with lawyers and witnesses alike.
>
>During the 2004 trial to consider the law banning certain second 
>trimester abortions, Casey asked one doctor if physicians ever hear a 
>baby cry during an abortion. He asked the same doctor if a mother can 
>detect in advance that a baby will be born blind.
>
>In several interviews with The Associated Press in recent years, Casey 
>said he used humor and a newly developed love of skiing to help cope 
>with his loss of sight.
>
>"It doesn't start out funny being blind," Casey said. "You get mad. 
>You get angry. You get depressed. But then you choose to either sit 
>there and wait to die or you get up and you move on. Once you make that

>decision, then you can find humor."
>
>Sometimes, he found the humor in himself.
>
>When a law clerk walked him into a courtroom wall, Casey snapped, 
>"You're fired! Bring back my guide dog!" Laughter filled the room.
>
>Casey was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in 1964 and lost his 
>vision entirely in 1987, just after the New York Giants won the Super 
>Bowl. Casey, a season ticketholder since 1961, treasured the memory and

>continued to attend games, as well as Broadway plays.
>
>Casey had to overcome skeptics when he took on a load of 300 to 400 
>cases beginning in late 1997, using computer and audio technology while

>studying documents and preparing to speak in court.
>
>Some questioned whether a blind judge could accurately assess the 
>credibility of a witness he could not see. Casey said truth could be 
>found by following the facts to see if they string together in a 
>coherent, logical way. He did occasionally swap a trademark case with a

>colleague because it depended on visual observation.
>
>
>http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBIT_CASEY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&
>TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-03-23-17-22-43