THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701180346
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER AND MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 38 lines
Circuit Court Judge Dennis F. McMurran will retire at end of this month, ending 16 years on the bench.
McMurran, contacted at home Thursday afternoon, refused to comment on his departure from the court. His eight-year term ends Jan. 31, but he would have been eligible for reappointment.
In a letter dated Jan. 15, McMurran notified Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harry L. Carrico of his plans to retire. The Supreme Court received notice of his retirement Thursday.
``It has been a pleasure serving the Commonwealth of Virginia as judge of the Third Circuit,'' he wrote.
McMurran is the third local judge to file for retirement this year. John B. Preston will retire Feb. 1 from Virginia Beach General District Court. Robert F. Babb will retire the same day from Portsmouth Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
New judges in each city will be appointed by the General Assembly by the end of February. Also, the legislature probably will create two new judgeships and appoint two new judges in Chesapeake - one each in Circuit Court and General District Court.
In addition, a new judge will be appointed soon to U.S. District Court in Norfolk. At that court, Judge Robert G. Doumar has taken ``senior status,'' which means he can hear as many or as few cases as he likes. That allows President Clinton to name a successor.
McMurran was appointed to the judiciary in 1981, replacing Judge R. Winston Bain. Before he was named to the bench, McMurran was a partner in the firm of Moody, McMurran & Miller. He is the son of former Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge Robert F. McMurran.
McMurran, who currently is paid $104,014 a year as a Circuit Court judge, is a graduate of Old Dominion College and the University of Richmond's T.C. Williams School of Law.