GREEN TOWNSHIP — William J. Morrissey Jr. was the toughest judge in Hamilton County.

        A 1972 Enquirer study found he handed out more prison sentences than any other judge.

        Among those he sentenced over the course of 33 years on the county bench: Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, whose 1977 obscenity trial was overseen by Judge Morrissey.

        The retired judge died July 18 while undergoing cancer treatment in Columbus. A resident of Green Township, he was 81.

        Perhaps it was because of his hard line on the law that Judge Morrissey was sometimes judged harshly himself.

        In 1998, The Enquirer reported that his decisions had been reversed on appeal more often than any of his county colleagues from 1994-96 — 22 times over those three years.

        Judge Morrissey was involved in his share of controversies and made his share of headlines as a jurist.

        His highest profile case was that of Mr. Flynt, who was convicted of pandering obscenity and engaging in organized crime.

        An appeals court overturned the convictions two years later, citing the use of an unconstitutional law — and Judge Morrissey's improper communication with the jury, as well as his refusal to allow magazines comparable to Mr. Flynt's Hustler to be admitted into evidence.

        In an ironic twist, Mr. Flynt played Judge Morrissey in The People Vs. Larry Flynt, the 1996 movie about Mr. Flynt's life and the sensational Cincinnati trial.

        “He was larger than life and loved every minute of it,” said the judge's friend Henry Radel of Green Township. “He had a wonderful command of the English language and a wonderful memory recall. He was a very witty man.”

        Judge Morrissey was also a bomber pilot in two wars, a flight instructor, and a retired colonel with the Air Force Reserve.

        He flew B-17s and B-24s during World War II and a B-29 in Korea. In 1962, when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted, he was recalled to fly the C-119, a transport and cargo plane. He was an instructor pilot at Clinton County Air Force Base in Wilmington in the 1940s and '50s.

        A graduate of the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Judge Morrissey was in private practice and served as assistant attorney general for Ohio before becoming a Hamilton County judge. He was tapped to finish the term of Judge Robert E. Jacobs in 1963.

        Elected to the court in 1966, Judge Morrissey also spent time as a judge in the juvenile division.

        Born in Cincinnati in 1921, he graduated from Western Hills High School, Clarion (Pa.) State Teachers College and Miami University, in addition to Chase Law.

        He began private practice in 1949 and, over the years, served as special counsel for the Ohio attorney general, attorney for Green Township trustees, and associate legal counsel for the American Cancer Society.

        He retired in 1996.

        Judge Morrissey was a member of the Ohio State, American and Cincinnati Bar associations. He also was: a member of the American Legion's Robert E. Bentley Post No. 50 (now Bartley-Johnson-Bentley Post No. 43); past president of the Chase College Foundation, the Chase Alumni Association, and the Green Township Republican Club; and past director of the Hamilton County Republican Club.

        Survivors include: his wife, Martha “Betty” Morrissey; a daughter, Melissa Morrissey Minella of Pennsylvania ; a son, William J. Morrissey III f Green Township; and three grandchildren.

        Visitation: 4:30-8:30 p.m. today, Radel Funeral Home, 650 Neeb Road, Delhi. Mass of Christian burial: 10 a.m. Friday, St. Simon Church, 825 Pontius Road, Delhi.

        Memorials: Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University, Nunn Drive, Highland Heights, KY 41099.

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