Sunday, December 31, 1995
NEWS
Tracy Everbach Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
To some, the defining moment for Judge Hal Gaither came in the fall when he publicly refused to apologize to Muslims for his comments on a child custody case.
The tough-minded Juvenile Court judge - a West Point graduate and former prosecutor - had drawn harsh criticism and protests after a national television report on the case.
Five years ago, a jury in the judge's court had terminated parental rights for an Albanian couple over allegations that the father had fondled his daughter. In September, the parents demanded that Judge Gaither apologize for saying on ABC-TV's 20/20 program that the Muslim couple's two children should stay with an adoptive family, which is Christian.
Judge Gaither responded that he wouldn't apologize "until hell freezes over." He wrote a letter to the editor of The Dallas Morning News saying that he wasn't anti-Islamic, accusing the father of sexual abuse and saying the news show distorted the facts.
To critics and supporters alike, it was vintage Gaither - opinionated, self-assured, unconcerned about ruffling feathers.
"Judge Gaither is a loose cannon," said Ron Davis, who heads the Texas Family Institute, an African-American think tank that works on juvenile justice issues. "This is a guy who one minute can be nice and cordial, and the next minute he conjures up some inner demons and he's off and running."
Others view him as fair and reasonable, particularly those who have him on their side.
Judge Gaither has "a keen understanding that discipline and love go hand in hand," said Ray Sullivan, spokesman for Gov. George W. Bush, who chose the judge as his chief adviser on juvenile issues during his campaign. "Governor Bush obviously respected his knowledge of the juvenile justice system and what reforms needed to be put in place."
Said County Judge Lee Jackson, who serves with Judge Gaither on the county Juvenile Board: "Hal Gaither has a temper: That's not any secret from anyone who's worked with him. I never doubt his commitment, so I've been able to accept it when he's stepped on my toes."
For some colleagues and observers, Judge Gaither's name is synonymous with arrogance and obstinacy. He has stormed out of Juvenile Board meetings in anger over rejection of his proposals. In 1992, he burst into a Commissioners Court meeting after a shooting outside his courtroom and yelled at county commissioners about courthouse security.
Judge Gaither said he understands why some people perceive him as pompous.
"I think when you take positions, someone's going to have to refer to you as arrogant: That's why you don't accept their position," he said. "You either stand for something or you stand for nothing."
Complexity
There is no question the 57-year-old native Tennessean is a complex person. He has a reputation as one of the toughest judges in the courthouse but will sob when speaking of his mother's death 20 years ago.
He thinks young offenders should be sent to boot camps to learn discipline but thinks 14-year-olds are too young to stand trial as adults.
He blames the deterioration of families for the rise in juvenile crime. Meanwhile, he is going through a contentious second divorce and custody battle over his 13-year-old daughter.
After 10 years on the bench, hearing juvenile delinquency, adoption and child protective custody cases, Judge Gaither is encountering some of the most intense scrutiny of his career.
It has come at a time when he has also achieved major success: Juvenile justice reforms that he pushed for nearly two decades finally passed in the Legislature.
After 18 years, he said, "All at once, the right people are in the right place at the right time." Texas soon should have "a model juvenile justice system," he said.
Some civic leaders say they are impressed by Judge Gaither's willingness to be a maverick.
"The good thing about Judge Gaither is that he has a mind of his own," said Temo Munoz of the Hispanic Committee for Juvenile Services, a group that has challenged and worked with the county Juvenile Board on youth issues. "He has been real concerned about the juvenile problem and he is honest about his feelings."
On the bench, he impresses some as harsh but at the same time sensitive.
For instance, last year he ruled that 16-year-old Jimmy Ray Hardy would have to stand trial as an adult in the killings of two Texas A&M University students.
"When I look at this young man, I cannot believe - he looks so young and innocent - that he has been accused of the crime he's been accused of," the judge said in court. The teenager later was convicted in adult court of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison for killing Crystal Miller and Reginald Broadus.
Dallas County human services director Betty Culbreath, who headed the Juvenile Department during 1993, said the judge is sincere.
"The Gaither I know was willing to give a kid who had been charged with murder a second chance at rehabilitation because he understood the circumstances," she said. "Contrary to what most folks think, I find him to be in search of the real truth."
But some leaders disdain the judge. Some Dallas Muslims protested in early September outside his office in the county's juvenile justice center over the custody case involving the children of Sadri and Sabahete Krasniqi.
"The judge still holds some kind of bias toward Muslims," said Ghulam Warriach , president of the Dallas Muslim Council, who met with the judge last month in a failed attempt to improve relations.
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price called Judge Gaither's refusal to apologize to Muslims "pretty callous - because when you do something because of children, you don't indict a whole community."
But Mr. Price adds that Judge Gaither has been trying to be more of a "team player" on the juvenile board than in the past.
Credits his training
The judge said his military background at West Point and as an Army airborne ranger with the 101st Division trained him to be introspective, even self-centered.
"We're not real warm and cuddly," he said of himself and his U.S. Military Academy classmates. "Sometimes we are very self-centered. It's part of the training . . . of a general to lead troops into war."
He entered West Point in 1957 after a year at Vanderbilt University on a football scholarship. In his hometown of Jackson, Tenn., he'd been a football hero and senior class president.
At West Point, he sang in the glee club, which appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Perry Como Show . He later recorded his own gospel album.
His younger sister, Vickie Crawford, still lives in Jackson. She recalls that her brother, the first in his family to go to college, was a popular young man who maintained high standards.
"I remember a story about someone offering him $10 to just put an unlit cigarette in his mouth but he wouldn't do it because it was football season," she recalled.
Their mother, Ruby May Gaither, also liked to fight for what she believed in, Ms. Crawford said. She once forced a recall election of the city's mayor, whom she then ran against. The mayor retained his office.
Judge Gaither's mother died of cancer in 1975, and he says the circumstances of her death are among his greatest regrets.
"She went into the hospital just before Thanksgiving," he said, his eyes filling with tears. His father had alerted him that she was failing and urged him to telephone her.
"I didn't call that Friday night, and she died the next morning," he said as tears rolled down his cheeks. "I didn't call her because I was too busy."
Post-military
After his honorable discharge from the military, he and his first wife moved their family to Dallas, where he worked as an engineer for Texas Instruments and then for Micropac Industries in Garland. At age 30, he began taking classes at Southern Methodist University's law school.
"I had an 8 o'clock class every morning and I'd be at work by 9," he recalled. "I took a late lunch to attend class from 1 to 1:50, then I'd go back to work until 7 or 8. Then I'd study until 3 a.m."
He graduated in 1973 and started an apartment leasing business with two partners. After three years, he sold his interest and set his sights on a job in the district attorney's office as a juvenile court prosecutor.
The district attorney at the time, Henry Wade, was a tough sell, Judge Gaither remembered. "Every Monday I went back to visit him - for 12 Mondays in a row," until Mr. Wade finally hired him. He eventually became the county's chief juvenile prosecutor. And in 1986, running as a Republican, he won the judgeship of the 304th District Court. He has been re-elected twice.
As a judge, he has hosted two legal issues shows on KRLD-AM (1080) - Ask the Judge and Legal Eagles .
His public successes have been accompanied by personal struggles.
The judge's 31-year-old son, Chris Gaither of Plano, said the 1977 divorce of Hal and Shirley Gaither tore the family apart. He calls his father "the greatest source of pain in my life."
The judge acknowledged that his family has had some strife but said he has tried to be a good father to his son and three daughters.
The judge's 28-year-old daughter, Janann Tarrant, said her father has tried to cultivate a positive relationship with her and even helps pay her community college tuition, at the rate of "100 percent for A's and 50 percent for B's."
His current wife, Linda Lawson Gaither, has accused him in court documents of violating court orders by failing to make a child support payment and house payments.
He says that isn't true and said that he regrets the divorce, particularly because of its effect on the couple's teenage daughter.
"It is true that the lack of good family influence is a root cause of the criminal justice problem," he said.
"But that means the mother and father are neglecting their kids to the point where problems will happen. That never happened with any of my kids."
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PHOTO(S): (The Dallas Morning News: Carol T. Powers) Judge Hal Gaither doesn't shy away from controversial decisions. "You either stand for something or you stand for nothing," he says. With him is his daughter Kate, 13. ; PHOTO LOCATION: Digital.
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