[1] As a boy, Mahady crushed a hand between two train cars while playing in the railroad yards of White River Junction.
[7] In 1984, Vermont authorities carried out raids against the Northeast Kingdom Community Church, and seized more than 100 children on the grounds of suspected child abuse.
[10] Mahady conducted 40 hearings in one day, determined that there was insufficient evidence of child abuse, and ordered the children returned to the custody of their parents.
[11] Necessity enabled the defendants to argue that they broke the law by occupying Stafford's office as a way to draw attention to the larger supposed crimes associated with U.S. activities in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
[11] Mahady's support for individual liberties earned him nicknames including "Freedom Frank"—a compliment from his admirers,[12] and an epithet from his detractors, who argued that he treated defendants too leniently.
[13] While serving as a district court judge, Mahady moved to Essex Junction, Vermont, where he resided for the rest of his life.
[1] In August 1987, Governor Madeleine Kunin considered James L. Morse and Mahady for appointment to the Vermont Supreme Court to succeed Hayes, who had died after two years as an associate justice.
[14] She appointed Mahady, pending confirmation by the Vermont State Senate, which begins its sessions in January and usually meets until April or May.
[23] After his first marriage ended in divorce, in 1967, Mahady married Sheryl (Sherry) Symmes in Norwich, Vermont;[24] his best man was Patrick Leahy.