W.D. “Jack” Knight compared being a judge to his college days serving as a referee for basketball games.
“Here, I learned the foundation for being a fair and just judge,” Knight wrote earlier this year. “First, I had to observe what had happened; second, I had to determine if what happened was right or wrong; then I had to make a judgment call.
“Most importantly, this decision had to be right because, once made, the decision could not be reversed!”
For nearly three decades, Judge Knight used his refereeing experience again and again in the courtrooms of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit. He ruled with a cool head — one filled with an impartial temperament and knowledge of the intricacies of the law.
Knight died this past weekend at the age of 75.
He had no qualms about sentencing guilty defendants to prison. “If they need sending, I can send ’em with no remorse,” Knight said in 1996 article in The Valdosta Daily Times shortly before his retirement. “It’s just like raising a child. If you don’t pop the whip, then somebody’s going to be bad. And if that’s the judge, so be it.”
Judge Knight could be tough, but compassionate. Stern but fair. Throughout his 19 years of being active on the bench, and as a senior judge in following years, Jack Knight fit the ideal of a judge: A man of the law who could parse conflicting evidence, separate right from wrong, then make a call.
But he also made a call to be a part of his community. Born in Ray City, he returned to his native Berrien County to practice law, raise a family, and be a citizen who served in numerous organizations.
Jack Knight lived up to the expectations of his profession and the noble echo of his name: He was the knight of the Alapaha Circuit.
