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Growing up in a house with an attorney for a dad, Jennings Circuit Judge Murielle Bright knew she wanted to study law.
To that end, Bright was involved with the pre-law society at Butler University, then went on to graduate from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law with her J.D. in 2010.
Prior to her ascension to the bench in 2021, Bright’s father was on the same bench as Judge Jon. W. Webster. Webster now serves as a senior judge.
“We had very similar career paths (but) did not really start out thinking they were going to be almost identical the way they were,” the younger Bright said.
Still, Bright recalls people telling her when she first started practicing law that she would be a judge. But that’s not what she initially wanted, because she enjoyed being an advocate and arguing with people.
“I don’t like being in the middle and being neutral. I want to really get up there and fight with people. Like, quite frankly, that is more my personality,” Bright said.
But as time went on, she began to change her mind.
She noted that being a judicial officer has changed a lot compared to when her father first began in 1997. Today, for example, courts are doing more community outreach, collaborating with schools and starting problem solving-courts.
Her father is an excellent resource, Bright added. Many new judges have other helpful judges and mentors to lean on, but not many have a parent to fill that role.
Bright is the latest Indiana trial judge to be featured in Indiana Lawyer’s Spotlight series profiling jurists in more rural counties. Here is what she had to say about life on and off the bench.
If you hadn’t gone into the legal field, what is a job you think you might be doing?
My undergrad was in communications. I would say something in the community/public relations field.
What are some of your favorite things about being a judge so far?
I think as with any profession, there are good days, bad days, crazy days, hectic days. I really like to bring that personal humanity aspect into the courtroom. People are always thinking, “This court has all the power over me.” I’m just whatever. I don’t have any ability to do anything. We all have roles. I’m sitting up here as the judge. There’s a prosecutor, there’s a defense attorney, there’s witnesses, there’s a defendant in a criminal case. But when we walk out of this courtroom, we’re all people, held to the same standard of being a person, being human, of treating each other with respect and dignity and all of those things. It is so within this courtroom; we all have roles to play and we all have jobs to do. And yes, mine is a decision-making authority, but outside of that, we’re all the same people. And people respect that a lot, appreciate that a lot. For example, what we call a “frequent flyer” — he was in jail, being held on a case … and he wanted to get out to go to the birth of his child, which, back and forth, “If we let him out, he’s going to run.” And I was like, “Well, yeah, he probably is, and if he does, then he’s going to be in a worse spot than he was when we finally catch him.” He’s not going to run to California — he didn’t have those resources — he’s just going to go run and hide around here and get in trouble again, and we’ll find him and then it’s going to be worse than if he would have ever got out. But he actually really seemed to go to the birth of his child, and he came back to jail like two days later and he’s been doing really well since then. I think that he appreciated the opportunity to be treated with some respect and given that opportunity to be there for the birth of his child. I enjoy that part of it, the human aspect.
What is something you feel like you’ve learned about yourself since becoming a judge?
I’m more patient than I ever thought I could be. I’m not patient with my kids or husband because I have very high expectations for my own family. I tell them all the time, because I know what their home life is and their background and what they’re capable of, “I’m going to have high expectations, and when you’re not meeting those, I’m not going to have a whole lot of patience.” But to have more patience than I ever thought I would have for people on all sides that come in this court.
When you’re not on the bench, what are some of your hobbies?
Well, I have six kids, so I don’t really have a lot of extra time. I’m with my kids — they range from 12 to 1-year-old twins — so free time is basically at their activities, their ballgames, their sporting events, pretty much year-round. We have a few weekends off a year, but for the most part, it’s year-round between different sports. (We’re) very big, avid sports fans, the whole family is. And then I am a runner; that is like my one thing for me. I ran, I would say, 25 to 30 half marathons, and my goal is a full marathon in 2024 because I’ll be 40, so that was my goal for my 40th. We’re also heavily involved in our church. You always hear, “faith is first and then family” — that’s always a hard thing to do as a mother. It’s like, well, nothing comes before my children; they’re first with everything. But really, truly, living your faith and your beliefs and that golden rule, I try to carry that through the courtroom as much as possible. We’re all people, we all need to be treated with dignity and respect. At the end of the day, we’re all equals. No matter what your degree is, no matter what your education is, we all are the same.•
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