DELAWARE - The Honorable William C. Carpenter, Jr., the most senior judge on the Delaware Superior Court, has announced that he will be retiring from the bench on December 31st, 2022 after an almost 30-year career, says the Delaware Superior Court.
“While it is always difficult to walk away from a job that you have found so rewarding, my time has come,” wrote Judge Carpenter in his October letter to Gov. John Carney, stating his intention to retire, after more than 47 years of public service as a judge and federal prosecutor. “I want to thank you for the confidence you have shown in me and for allowing me the privilege of serving as a jurist in what I believe is the best judiciary in the nation.”
Judge Carpenter presided over many significant cases over the years, says the Superior Court, including the recent prosecution of Delaware State Auditor Kathleen McGuinness for official misconduct. They say other notable cases he presided over include the cases against 19 individuals accused in the 2017 riot at the Vaughn Correctional Center that resulted in the death of Sgt. Steven Floyd, and the 2011 prosecution of pediatrician Earl Bradley for the rape and sexual abuse of his young patients.
According to the Superior Court, Judge Carpenter oversaw several death penalty cases, including the case of Brian Steckel, who was executed in 2005, making him the last person put to death before a Supreme Court Ruling in 2016 deemed capital punishment unconstitutional. The Superior Court also says he served six years in the Superior Court's Complex Commercial Litigation Division, handling cases that involve large corporate issues.
“Judge Carpenter has devoted decades of his life to the administration of justice,” said Superior Court President Judge Jan R. Jurden. “He has served this Court, the Judiciary and our State with the utmost distinction, and his legacy will be one of selfless service, leadership. adherence to the rule of law, integrity, collegiality, and hard work. I am so grateful to have had the privilege of working with him for the last 20 years. He is an esteemed colleague who will be sorely missed.”
Carpenter, who served under the four chief justices, was nominated to the Superior Court in 1993 by then-governor Tom Carper, says the Court, and was then reappointed in 2005 by then-Governor Ruth Ann Minner, and again in 2017 by Governor Judge Carney.
Before joining the Superior Court, they say Carpenter was a U.S. Attorney for Delaware from 1985 to 1993, serving under Presidents Ronal Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for eight years before that.
According to the Superior Court, Carpenter was assigned to lead the Delaware Judiciary's efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and led the efforts that produced a detailed, phased plan to put new health and safety measures in place that allowed the courts to safely re-open and operate during the pandemic, and eventually transition back to normal operations.
In June 2021, the Court says Judge Carpenter was awarded the highest honor from the Delaware State Bar Association – the First State Distinguished Service Award – in recognition of the respect he has brought to the legal profession and the Delaware Bar through his “good citizenship in civic and humanitarian service” and his many years advancing “the ideals of citizen participation and community accomplishment."