By a MetNews Staff Writer

Judges who knew and worked with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patrick Murphy testified yesterday that they were inconvenienced by Murphy's long absences from the bench and, in several cases, "disgusted" when they learned that he had enrolled in a Caribbean medical school while on sick leave from the court.

In the first day of testimony in a Commission on Judicial Procedures case against Murphy for excessive and unexcused absences, judges who worked with the embattled jurist said they found him to be a cheerful and often helpful colleague during his first few years on the bench.

But they also said they were troubled by what became known around the courthouse as "Murphy sightings"--appearances the judge made in public during a time he said he was too ill to serve on the bench at the Citrus Courthouse, now known as the West Covina branch of the Superior Court's East District.

Judge Michael Duggan, who said he had been a close friend of Murphy and defended his colleague from allegations that his illness was faked, described his reaction to reading in the newspaper that Murphy attended Ross University Medical School in Dominica a year ago as "one of regret and shame and betrayal."

Earlier Duggan, who was widely seen as Murphy's closest friend on the Citrus bench, called Murphy "the world's nicest guy--cheerful, happy, energetic, eager to volunteer, bright. Someone you'd be proud to know."

Murphy, who conducted his own cross-examination and is representing himself in the discipline action, asked Duggan whether he carried his load at the courthouse before his illness.

"You carried your load," Duggan said, "and more. When you were there."

Duggan also testified that he noticed a growth on Murphy's neck, and that he understood Murphy had had surgery resulting from a thyroid condition.

The commission announced last March that it would open proceedings against Murphy after his then-presiding judge, Rolf M. Treu of the former Citrus Municipal Court, said he notified the commission in June 1999 regarding Murphy's frequent absences from the court.

Treu said at the time he gave the notice pursuant to a law requiring that the commission be informed whenever a judge had been absent for 90 days within a 12-month period.

Proceedings opened yesterday at the Fourth District Court of Appeal courtroom in Riverside with Justice Art McKinster of Div. Two leading the three-justice panel hearing the case. He was joined on the bench by Justice Betty Ann Richli, also of Div. Two, and Justices Carol A. Corrigan of the First District's Div. Three.

The lead attorney for the commission was Jack Coyle.

In addition to Duggan, Coyle called Treu and judges Dennis A. Aichroth, Thomas Falls, Dan Oki, and Carol Williams Elswick, all of whom served with Murphy on the Citrus Municipal Court.

Aichroth testified that he was "in a state of shock" when Murphy asked for three months vacation in 1998. But he also acknowledged that after Murphy's request was granted, many judges came forward to request -- and receive -- long vacations, since they were due to otherwise lose all accrued vacation time under a governance agreement then being negotiated with the Los Angeles Superior Court in anticipation of unification.

Unification was completed last year, and all municipal court judges did lose their unused accrued vacation time.

Aichroft also testified that his reaction after hearing Murphy was at a medical school in the Caribbean while on sick leave and still earning his judicial salary was "disappointment, disgust, surprise, disbelief."

"Frolicking in the Bahamas is not consistent with a person who is ill," Aichroft said.

Falls also used the word "disgust" to describe his reaction.

Ellswick said she saw Murphy at three Christmas pageants at the school where both she and Murphy had children attending during times when Murphy had reported to be on sick leave. Other court personnel, including a deputy public defender and a bailiff assigned to the courthouse, also testified they saw Murphy in public at the time and that he appeared to be in good health.

Ellswick said she believed Murphy tried to evade her glance at one of the programs. Deputy Sheriff A.M. Cendejas testified that at a restaurant he saw Murphy greet the proprietor and then leave--through the kitchen.

Falls said the notion of the "Murphy sighting" became a joke around the courthouse and among attorneys, as Murphy had repeatedly failed to show up for his assignment and was gone for long stretches of time.

At one point, Falls said, there was an eviction notice posted on Murphy's chamber door--on a real Sheriff's Department form. At functions, he said, attorneys and members of the community would ask Falls why he and his colleagues did nothing about Murphy, Falls testified.

At one point, Murphy objected to introduction of the eviction notice, and later tried to introduce evidence that Falls, too, had been the target of a commission proceeding.

Coyle's objection to that question was sustained, after Murphy said his reason for seeking its admission was to make the point that "Citrus Court is like a little Peyton place" where "sardonic wit" such as that displayed by the eviction notice was common.

The hearing is to resume today.