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Judge Gagliardi spent three hours talking to the children, with neither parent present. Dr. Murphy was subjected to a grueling eight hours of examination and cross-examination by Happy's attorney, during which he became visibly angry. Happy was on the stand for seven hours. She was not happy when her first cousin, Mrs. Richard S. Parker, turned up to testify for Dr. Murphy and pointedly ignored her in order to sit next to Dr. Murphy's new wife. In fact, all during the trial Happy seemed a rather forlorn figure. Governor Rockefeller apparently considered it inappropriate to accompany her, and only occasionally did Happy have a relative or close friend with her to lend moral support.
Obviously, little Malinda was the most difficult and perilous problem. Judge Gagliardi was well aware that in recent practice courts have decided that a child under five belongs with the mother, unless she is drastically unqualified. He proposed that a psychiatrist called in to testify for Dr. Murphy examine Malinda. Reporters caught a glimpse of mother and child as Happy arrived at the psychiatrist's office from the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills holding Malinda in her lap.
No Change. After all the evidence was in. Judge Gagliardi took two weeks to deliberate. His decision reflected his awareness that any choice was painful, and would be made between the conflicting loyalties of two people of good will. Both parents were well qualified to raise the children, he declared. But "the court finds that neither the health nor the welfare of the children is being adversely affected by reason of the fact that the father has custody of them. He has succeeded very well in his role, and the children are normal, healthy and contented. The evidence adduced does not warrant a change in the custodial arrangement which the parties themselves concluded."
As for Malinda, "the youngest daughter shall be returned to the father," the judge directed. "The evidence overwhelmingly establishes that all four children should be kept together as a unit. This is where their great strength lies, and it would be a mistake of the first magnitude to separate any one of them from the others."
In a concession to Happy, the judge declared that "the lack of specific visitation details has been a constant source of annoyance to all concerned, and is, to some degree, detrimental to the children's well-being." He gave Murphy until Oct. 15 to work out a reasonable visitation agreement with Happy, or the judge would write one for him. The terms of this agreement will determine Happy's decision whether or not to appeal Judge Gagliardi's ruling. But legal authorities agree that the higher courts rarely reverse a presiding judge in a custody case.
Estates & Brownstones. When it was over, the two sides spoke only through counsel. Dr. Murphy's lawyer said that "the decision completely vindicates all his acts to date." If the Murphy children never live with the easy spaciousness the Rockefellers can command, they are scarcely condemned to squalor. Dr. Murphy, a descendant of Samuel Slater, the Rhode Island textile pioneer, is, well-to-do in his own right. Dr. Murphy's father was head of the cancer-research laboratory of the Rockefeller Institute for 40 years.