Larry Hammond Receives the 2008 Justice Award

On the Field at Scottsdale Stadium

There was a triple play—a rare feat in baseball—at the Scottsdale Stadium the evening of April 24, at the AJS 2008 Justice Award ceremony honoring Larry A. Hammond. Family, the fair administration of justice, and baseball are three passions of Larry Hammond. All three were acknowledged during the ceremony with more than 325 people in attendance, including Ray Girdler, a man who spent nearly a decade in prison for setting a fire that killed his wife and daughter—a crime he did not commit. Hammond’s work helped to prove the fire was accidental and Ray Girdler is now a free man. His case is emblematic of Larry Hammond’s tremendous efforts in righting the wrongs of the criminal justice system.  

The ceremony commenced with Seth Andersen, AJS Executive Vice President, offering welcoming remarks to the gathering under clear Arizona evening skies. Andersen noted the “strong connection between Arizona and AJS is demonstrated by the fact that the state has been represented on the AJS Board of Directors and National Advisory Council continuously since 1929.”  

Following dinner, Judge John R. Tunheim, AJS President, and H. Thomas Wells, Jr., President-Elect of the American Bar Association and former Board member of AJS, gave opening remarks to the award program. Referring to Hammond, Judge Tunheim stated that “Very few people in the 95 year history of AJS have equaled Larry’s dedication to the Society. He has not only contributed to a much better America, but I think he greatly enhanced the influence of AJS.” Judge Tunheim described Hammond as “a man of great intellect with a strong passion for justice” who is “one of the foremost criminal lawyers of our time and one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known.”  

Wells emphasized the “longtime partnership” of AJS and the ABA, dating “back to at least 1938, when the American Bar Association gave [its] highest honor, the ABA Medal, to the founder of AJS, Herbert Harley.” Wells noted that the message and work of AJS “has informed me through my ABA leadership, especially now as I prepare to serve as president of the ABA.” “Larry Hammond,” Wells continued, “richly deserves to be recognized for his contributions to improving our justice system—particularly for his work in representing indigent defendants in capital and other criminal cases.” 

Janet Reno delivers her portion of the keynote address

Janet Reno, former Attorney General of the United States, and Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, past President of AJS and the ABA, in abstentia, delivered the ceremony’s joint keynote address. Both are current members of the American Judicature Society’s Board of Directors. Mark Harrison, partner of Larry Hammond at Osborn Maledon, P.A., delivered the remarks of Sandy D’Alemberte, who was unable to attend the ceremony due to a last minute conflict. D’Alemberte observed that Hammond, “Throughout his career, has upheld his lawyer’s oath never to reject, from any consideration personal to himself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed.” 

Attorney General Reno recalled the cold winter day in January 2003 when she first met Larry Hammond. “It was exciting. He was after progress and reform. He wanted it, but he wanted it with an intensity that was low key and compelling, and it made a difference.” She noted Hammond’s ability to bring people together and added “the time has come when we have got to follow Larry, and whomever he brings with him, into building justice in America.” 

Justice Andrew D. Hurwitz of the Arizona Supreme Court, Judge David G. Campbell of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, and attorney Tom Henze of Gallagher & Kennedy, P.A., presented the Justice Award to Hammond. Justice Hurwitz described “Larry’s enormous capacity for hard work,” his willingness to go “out of his way to encourage an inexperienced lawyer in a difficult situation,” and the “critical part of Larry’s gift to the law [is that] he mentors enormously well, both for lawyers in his firm and in the community at large.” 

Judge Campbell noted that “Larry has represented defendants in death penalty cases from Florida to California. He has been appointed ‘learned counsel’ in at least nine death penalty cases and has represented defendants as lead counsel in many more.” Judge Campbell cited Hammond’s inspiration of young lawyers to serve the profession, following his example of rushing “cheerfully to the aid of others” and devoting “literally tens of thousands of hours to helping other people—usually those who are least able to help themselves.”

Tom Henze brought the house down with a remarkable adaptation of the classic baseball poem “Casey at the Bat,” delivered with great gusto and without notes, in which Larry Hammond comes to the plate in the bottom of the ninth for the hometown team—but does not strike out.  Henze also announced the establishment of the endowed Larry A. Hammond Scholarship at the University of Arizona College of Law.  Hammond was presented with the crystal Justice Award and a customized number 08 Arizona Diamondbacks jersey bearing his name.

Hammond, a partner in the Phoenix firm, Osborn Maledon, P.A., continues to advocate for death penalty defendants. Acknowledging a “revolution in the world of criminal justice and justice reform,” he noted that “public perception about our courts and our justice system is largely borne of what people think about the high profile criminal cases. [I]f you care about what people think about our courts and our laws, you must be concerned about criminal justice.”  

Upon earning his law degree from the University of Texas, Hammond clerked for Judge Carl McGowan of the U.S. Court of Appeals and for Justices Hugo L. Black and Lewis F. Powell, Jr., of the United States Supreme Court. He served as an Assistant Watergate Special Prosecutor and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Justice Department.  

Hammond joined the AJS board in 1995, serving as president from 2003 to 2005. His passion for criminal justice reform inspired AJS to address the causal issues resulting in wrongful convictions. Hammond joined with Attorney General Janet Reno to plan the 2003 National Conference on Preventing the Conviction of Innocent Persons, which led to the creation of the AJS Commission and Institute on Forensic Science and Public Policy. 

Hammond has been an adjunct faculty member at Arizona’s law schools and has taught courses at the University of New Mexico and the undergraduate campus of Arizona State University, including a course on the death penalty. This fall, Hammond will again help to educate aspiring lawyers as an adjunct professor at the Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, North Carolina, while working closely with the AJS Institute and Commission of Forensic Science and Public Policy. 

Hammond and his wife Frances have three children, Brooke, Blake, and Amanda, who introduced the three co-presenters at the award ceremony, and two grandchildren. When he is not working to improve the justice system, representing his clients, or spending time with his family, Hammond is likely following baseball, especially the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Photos by Shelley Marie Valdez of Shelley Marie Images, www.shelleymarieimages.com
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