T. F. Gilroy Daly

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T. F. Gilroy Daly (February 25, 1931 - July 11, 1996) was senior United States District judge in Connecticut whose hallmark as a trial lawyer was winning the freedom of a man wrongly convicted of murder in 1976, died yesterday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He died of melanoma at age 65. He served as District Judge from 1977-1996.

1 Background
2 Career
3 Judicial career
4 External links

[edit] Background

Mr. Daly was born in Fairfield, Connecticut on February 25, 1931. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1952 before leaving for service in Korea, where he was a first lieutenant with the U.S. Army Rangers until 1954. He went on to attend Yale Law School, graduating in 1957.

[edit] Career

Daly began his law career as a private attorney in New York before being named an assistant Federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York in 1961. He returned to private practice in Connecticut, from 1964 to 1977, until his nomination to the Federal bench.

As a trial lawyer, Mr. Daly gained prominence when he won freedom for Peter A. Reilly of Litchfield County, Conn., who had been convicted of murdering his mother. With the help of James Conway, a private investigator, Mr. Daly uncovered new evidence that resulted in Mr. Reilly being cleared of the crime and released from jail.

Mr. Daly's handling of Mr. Reilly's case catapulted him to prominence. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the Federal bench in 1977 and he served as Chief Judge of the district from 1983 to 1988. During his tenure, he reduced a severe backlog of cases by calling on out-of-state judges to help try Connecticut cases and by winning approval for additional full-time judges.

[edit] Judicial career

As a judge, he presided over several high-profile trials, including the Waterbury municipal corruption case, which ended in 1992 when he sent the former Mayor Joseph J. Santopietro to Federal prison for nine years.

In May 1995, in a landmark decision, Judge Daly ruled that state police can be held liable for taping telephone conversations in barracks.