Court cancelled in honor of judge

Death ruled accidental drowning

By: Sharon McBrayer | Morganton News Herald
Published: July 21, 2009

Morganton --

Court has been cancelled on Friday in Burke, Catawba and Caldwell counties in honor of District Court Judge John Mull.
Burke County Clerk of Courts Mabel Lowman said the clerk's office will remain open on Friday.
Mull's funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Glen Alpine. He will be buried in Burke Memorial Park. The family will receive friends at Sossoman Funeral Home from 6 until 9 p.m. Thursday, said Attorney Bob Ledford, who is a former partner of Mull's in a law practice in Morganton.
Ledford and Mull were in practice together from May 1, 1981 until the mid 1980s, Ledford said. The law practice was Byrd, Triggs, Mull & Ledford, he said.
On Tuesday, Ledford remembered Mull as a very compassionate person who would go out of his way to help anyone with a legal issue.
Ledford said Mull always wanted to satisfy both sides of an issue, and he tried to continue that as a judge. Mull was first sworn in as a District Court judge in 2002.
"I think Burke County has experienced a tremendous loss," Ledford said.
He admired and respected Mull's legal abilities and decisions as a judge. And even though those decisions weren't always in Ledford's favor, Ledford understood Mull's legal reasonings and respected his decisions, he said.
"John was a friend and co-worker in the legal profession that will be sorely missed," Ledford said.
District Attorney Jay Gaither was sworn into office the same year Mull became a judge. In a letter to the editor sent to The News Herald on Tuesday, Gaither called Mull a gentleman who never raised his voice and had humility.
"I will miss his gentle nature, his compassion and understanding and his judicial wisdom," Gaither said.
Mull died on Sunday night after helping his son, who was experiencing cramps, from the Catawba River, said Sheriff John McDevitt. The Burke County Sheriff's Office investigators have ruled Mull's death as an accidental drowning.
A release from the sheriff's office said an investigator assigned to handle the initial investigation was briefed by the medical examiner's office and the medical examiner concluded the death was an accidental drowning.

Court cancelled in honor of judge

Death ruled accidental drowning

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