Bill Text: MS SC507 | 2015 | Regular Session | Enrolled


Bill Title: Commend the judicial service of veteran Hinds Circuit Court Judge William F. Coleman and expressing sympathy of the Legislature.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2015-01-26 - Enrolled Bill Signed [SC507 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2015-SC507-Enrolled.html

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2015 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Longwitz, Blount, Butler (38th), Fillingane, Frazier, Gollott, Jackson (32nd), Lee, Parker, Simmons (12th)

Senate Concurrent Resolution 507

(As Adopted by Senate and House)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION MOURNING THE LOSS AND COMMENDING THE JUDICIAL SERVICE OF VETERAN HINDS CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE WILLIAM F. "BILL" COLEMAN OF MADISON, MISSISSIPPI, AND EXPRESSING THE SYMPATHY OF THE LEGISLATURE.

     WHEREAS, Hinds County Circuit Court Judge William Franklin Coleman, known affectingly as "Judge," "Bill," "Willie" and "Big Daddy," passed away on May 31, 2014.  He was 84; and

     WHEREAS, Judge Coleman served for 20 years as a Circuit Court Judge of the Seventh Judicial District.  Former Governor Cliff Finch appointed him to the bench on October 1, 1976.  He was Senior Judge of the four-judge district at the time he retired on December 31, 1996.  In addition to handling a crowded docket and numerous high-profile cases, he was instrumental in creating a public defender office for Hinds County, and he supported a statewide court administrator system; and

     WHEREAS, he was born in West Point, Mississippi, to David Howard Coleman and Susie Clark Coleman.  Judge Coleman attended Millsaps College and graduated from The University of Mississippi School of Law.  He and his former wife, Teresa Mathews Cashion, had four children:  Tricia Coleman Beauregard, Tom Coleman, John Coleman and Louis Coleman.  His two grandchildren, William Sharp and Sarah Kathryn, were born to Louis and his wife, Trisha Sharp Coleman.  Judge Coleman later married Kay Kerr and was a loving stepfather to Katrina Kerr Gordon, and her children Kane and Kaylin.  John Coleman's marriage to Chris Sutherland added grandchildren Mason and Berkley Sutherland; and

     WHEREAS, although he retired from the Hinds County Circuit Court bench 18 years ago, Coleman continued to hear cases as a Senior Status Judge, accepting appointments from the Supreme Court to cases in which local judges recused themselves.  Coleman presided over the 2013 Hattiesburg mayoral election trial; and

     WHEREAS, he served active duty during the Korean War in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army.  He later retired as a Colonel from the United States Army Reserves, JAG Corps, receiving numerous honors and awards throughout his career; and

     WHEREAS, Judge Coleman was a lifelong member of the Jackson Yacht Club and served as Commodore in 1977; and

     WHEREAS, Judge Coleman appointed Thomas Fortner as Hinds County's first full-time public defender in 1991.  Fortner and a staff of attorneys represented indigent people facing criminal charges in Circuit Court.  The office replaced a piecemeal system of case-by-case appointments.  "I just can't tell you how much I admired and respected him as jurist and as a person," Fortner said.  "He was a fair judge.  He had hard cases.  He had to make some hard decisions on some really critical constitutional issues, and he wasn't scared to rule the way he believed.  His rulings were strictly based on the law"; and

     WHEREAS, the State of Mississippi has lost one of its most devoted and estimable jurists and we pay tribute and cherish fondly the memory and enormous civic energy of this most public spirited citizen of our state:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby mourn the loss and commend the judicial service of veteran Hinds Circuit Judge William F. "Bill" Coleman of Madison, Mississippi, and express the sympathy of the Legislature to his surviving family.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to the surviving family of Judge Coleman, forwarded to the Mississippi Bar Association, and made available to the Capitol Press Crops.

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