Judge who threatened Boston Herald is reprimanded

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on Thursday issued a 12-page reprimand of a state judge who threatened the publisher of the Boston Herald after winning a libel verdict against the newspaper, according to The Associated Press.

Judge Ernest Murphy said in August that he would step down from the bench, after the state ethics commission recommended he be suspended and fined over the letters he wrote calling on the paper not to appeal the libel verdict. Writing on court letterhead, Murphy also demanded $3.26 million from publisher Patrick Purcell.

According to The AP, the high court’s punishment was "slightly less severe" than what the commission recommended.