Maurice M. Paul

Maurice Mitchell Paul (May 16, 1932 – December 29, 2016) was an American lawyer and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Education and early career

Judge Paul was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1932. He grew up in a family of modest means at the height of the Great Depression and World War II. Starting when he was a young boy, he worked a variety of jobs to help his family. He delivered groceries by bicycle, worked summers at a pig farm in Georgia, picked fruit, delivered papers and gathered cans and bottles to make ends meet. Eventually, he made his way to the University of Florida where he received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of Florida in 1954.

While at the University of Florida, he participated in Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and, upon graduation, he served in the United States Air Force from 1954 to 1957, training in Nevada and California and eventually piloting bombers in the Strategic Air Command's atomic bomb fleet based in Riverside, California.

During his time in the Air Force, he married Eleanor James Paul, his inseparable companion until her death in June 2012. She was an emergency room nurse until 1963, when their son, James Jeffrey Paul, was born. James Jeffrey Paul was an author living in Orlando, Florida, and New York City.

After leaving the Air Force, Paul was admitted to the University of Florida College of Law, receiving his Bachelor of Laws, with honors and Order of the Coif in 1960. Paul then served as an interim instructor at the University of Florida College of Law in 1960.

Private legal practice

In 1961, Judge Paul moved to Orlando and spent a dozen years in private practice, working at Sanders, McEwan as an associate until becoming a partner at Akerman, Senterfitt in 1965. After that, he became a name partner in Pitts, Eubanks, Ross & Paul before going out on his own.

Notably, Judge Paul was involved in creating the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the immediate governing jurisdiction for the land of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando.

In 1976, Judge Paul presided over the controversial murder trial of William "Tommy" Zeigler, who was accused of a quadruple murder in his furniture store on Christmas Eve, 1975, in Winter Garden, Florida. The jury found Zeigler guilty and recommended life imprisonment, but Paul overruled the jury's recommendation of a life sentence and sentenced Zeigler to death. The Florida Supreme Court, in a detailed 17-page opinion, affirmed the conviction, opining that "he facts supporting the sentence of death are clear, convincing, and are established beyond a reasonable doubt."

Despite this ruling, Zeigler and his supporters have provided a steady stream of arguments calling into question the actions of the judiciary, state prosecutors and police. In 1984, the Florida Supreme Court held that Zeigler had procedurally defaulted this claim because he could have raised it by the close of the trial but did not.

Other arguments include that the murder investigation was complicated and the trial rushed and complicated, that the verdict was returned only after Judge Paul, without the defense team's knowledge, arranged for the hold-out juror's doctor to prescribe her Valium,

Mr. Zeigler also sought DNA testing and was granted it in 2001. After reviewing the DNA evidence, the circuit court denied Zeigler's motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed, holding that "he trial court's findings of fact are supported by competent, substantial evidence in the record, particularly the evidentiary hearing testimony of the blood stain expert and the DNA testing analyst as well as the 1976 trial testimony of Zeigler and the original blood stain expert."

Today, over 40 years after his conviction, Zeigler remains on Florida's death row still proclaiming his innocence and fighting for renewed DNA testing. His latest petition seeking DNA testing using current DNA testing techniques was denied by the United States Supreme Court on November 13, 2017.

Federal judicial service

Judge Paul was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on April 26, 1982, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida vacated by Judge Winston Arnow. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 18, 1982, and received commission on June 21, 1982. He served as Chief Judge from 1993 to 1997.

In 1996, in a case involving French drug kingpin Claude Duboc, Judge Paul found famed attorney F. Lee Bailey in contempt of court, causing Bailey to spend 44 days in jail. Duboc had sold drugs worth hundreds of millions of dollars and had hidden the money in assets all around the world. To support his cooperation with the government, Duboc was to turn over all his ill-gotten assets. Bailey was given the authority to liquidate and turn over these assets to the government. A dispute arose over Bailey's use of certain stocks, and Judge Paul ordered Bailey to submit an accounting of the stocks. Bailey refused, despite being given multiple chances. Eventually, Bailey was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court based on this conduct.

He assumed senior status on July 31, 1997, serving in that status until his death on December 29, 2016, in Orlando.

Death and legacy

Upon his death in December 2016, Chief Judge M. Casey Rodgers shared the following in an email to the judges and staff in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida:

Judge Paul was a giant in both intellect and heart. He was a model judge, and in fact, the one we all looked to for advice and guidance -- he was a true judge's judge. His mentorship to us as judges and also to countless lawyers over the years will never be forgotten. Most of all, he was a dear friend and will be sorely missed.