Retiring Judge Gray Feted by Colleagues

U.S. District Judge William P. Gray, who has presided over Orange County’s jail overcrowding issue for more than a decade, was honored Thursday by the Orange County Federal Bar Assn. as he prepares to go into retirement.

Gray, 79, who underwent surgery last December for a benign brain tumor, received a series of tributes from lawyers gathered at the Beverly Heritage Hotel. The luncheon also featured several judges--including Gray’s own son, Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray--who couldn’t say enough about the retiring judge’s fairness and wisdom and compassion during his 25 years on the bench.

“You honor yourselves by honoring Bill Gray,” said Judge Warren J. Ferguson of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, who said he was Gray’s golfing partner for years. “He is a person I consider to be a judge with class.”

Ferguson said he has known Gray since 1966, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the bench, and said he admired him for his “vigor and enthusiasm.”

During his time as a judge, Gray has heard a wide range of civil and criminal cases and has monitored both the Orange County and Los Angeles County jail systems, both of which suffer from overcrowding.

His retirement leaves a vacuum in Orange County’s drawn-out jail overcrowding debate, during which the judge has cited the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Brad Gates for contempt. His rulings over the years have prompted county officials to take action to alleviate the situation.

During that time, the judge has won praise from county officials affected by his rulings, as well as from his peers on the bench.

“In my view, Bill Gray comes as near to perfect as a role model for a judge as you’ll be apt to find,” retired U.S District Judge Jesse Curtis said at the luncheon. “His judicial wisdom is transparent. He is an honest man. He is without any taint of arrogance. He can be firm when necessary, but he is not without sympathy and human understanding.”

The last speaker was Gray’s own son, whom he swore in as a Superior Court judge in 1984.

“I am boasting and busting at the buttons,” the younger Gray said. “I hope you can tell how proud I am to be here, and how gratified my family is that you all are here to celebrate him.”

In talking about his father’s humanness, he recalled the time his father accompanied him on the piano during a junior high school talent show, and another time when his father challenged his eighth-grade classmate to a footrace.

After his speech, the father and son embraced for a few seconds.