Paul Fraughton | Salt Lake Tribune Third District Court Judge, Judith Atherton reacts as a former mental health court client and Dr. Allan Rice of Valley Mental Health approach the bench to present her with her own certificate of completion from the program. Monday, July 29, 2013
On Judge Judith Atherton’s last day in mental health court, the bailiff didn’t really need to make the familiar call for all to rise as the judge entered the courtroom.
Dozens of defendants were already on their feet, cheering.
"We’ll miss you!" shouted a young woman standing on tip toes to catch a glimpse of the figure in black robes at the front of the room. "Please don’t go."
In a courthouse full of tense silence and cautious civility, the raucous cheering last week of the men and women of mental health court was genuine and warm.
It was an unusual reception for an unusual judge, who for nine years has been cheerleader, disciplinarian, confidant and friend to hundreds of mentally ill people in Utah’s criminal justice system.
"All rise," the bailiff called into the noise as the standing masses held up cameras and cell phones, trying to capture the judge’s last moments on the bench.
Atherton retired Aug. 1 after nearly two decades on the 3rd District Court bench.
One of the longest sitting female judges in the state, Atherton has made her name on high-profile cases and become an expert on justice for the mentally ill. She runs the 3rd District mental health court — the first of its kind in Utah — and is a member of the Judicial Council, the court’s policymaking body.
None of this means as much to her as the satisfaction she gets from seeing mental health court graduates transform their lives and stay out of trouble with the law.
"If you get to make a real difference in your career you’re very lucky," Atherton said in a recent interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. "It has always been my belief that when you give people a forum to succeed, they will succeed — beyond what your expectations are."
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As the roar of applause quieted, a tired looking man with deep wrinkles and dark eyes leaned over to the woman beside him.
"Why are we clapping?" he asked, glancing left and right.
"For the judge," the woman said, nodding at the bench. "It’s her last day here. And she’s the best judge there is."
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Becoming a judge • In her youth, Atherton never dreamt of donning black robes and doling out rulings.
She grew up in a small town near Toledo, Ohio, the daughter of a man who manufactured glass for Ford Motor Company. She graduated high school and went on to college. Hers was the first generation in her family to do so.
After college, she wanted change and adventure. She had never been out west.
Atherton got a job at the University of Utah arts library. She moved to Salt Lake City, planning to stay no more than a year.
"Sometimes," she said, more than 30 years later, "your life develops in spite of what you had in mind."
Atherton went to law school at the U. before taking a staff job at the Legal Aid Society of Utah in the mid-1980s. From there, she was tapped to serve as a court commissioner, then judge.
A woman with a quirky sense of humor and confident sense of right and wrong, Atherton was assigned to handle the criminal calendar, where murderers and rapists and kidnappers and abusers are tried.
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