Retired Circuit Judge Robert Helfrich dies at age 72

By Beverly Kraft
Administrative Office of Courts

Retired Circuit Judge Robert Helfrich of Hattiesburg died on March 31 at Forrest General Hospital. He was 72.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

Judge Helfrich served as Circuit Judge of the 12th Circuit District of Forrest and Perry counties for more than 22 years. He officially retired on June 30, 2025, but continued to work without salary, presiding over the drug intervention court that he created shortly after he took office in 2003.

“He just really made a difference in the judicial system there, and he will be missed,” said retired Circuit Judge Jon Mark Weathers, who served alongside Judge Helfrich for more than eight years.

Judge Helfrich’s legacy includes working tirelessly to turn around the lives of drug addicts whom others had given up on, and righting wrongs committed to preserve segregation in the 1960s.

As an assistant district attorney for the 12th Circuit District, Helfrich reopened and prosecuted racially motivated crimes from the Civil Rights era. He headed the team that prosecuted Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Samuel Bowers in 1998 for ordering the 1966 firebombing death of Vernon F. Dahmer Sr. Dahmer, a Civil Rights activist, successful businessman and farmer, had allowed Blacks to pay poll taxes at his store and had assisted with voter registration.

Hattiesburg attorney Pat Zachary, a longtime friend, said, “Bob was not afraid of anything. He would go back and try old civil rights cases that needed to be tried. He was straight up and brave about it.”

Circuit Judge Wes Curry of Hattiesburg, who came to the Circuit bench a year before Judge Helfrich retired, said, “I was in law school when he was assistant district attorney working on the Vernon Dahmer case, and it really made me proud that I came from a place that sought to do justice for the Dahmer family. He was a primary force in that case. To get to work with him and learn from him was very humbling.”

In 2006, as Circuit Judge, Helfrich ordered exoneration of Clyde Kennard, a Black man who was convicted of burglary involving receipt of stolen chicken feed in September 1960. Kennard had tried repeatedly to enroll in then all-white Mississippi Southern College. His defenders had long argued that Kennard was framed on the burglary charge to prevent him from pursuing college enrollment. He was diagnosed with cancer while serving a seven-year sentence at Parchman. He died in 1963, shortly after being released from prison. The man who testified against him recanted in 2005. After unsuccessful attempts to gain a gubernatorial pardon and Supreme Court vacation of the judgment, 16 people filed a Petition for Exoneration in Forrest County Circuit Court. On May 17, 2006, Judge Helfrich stated at a hearing that he was “compelled to do the right thing, and that is to declare Mr. Kennard innocent and to declare that the conviction of Mr. Kennard is hereby null and void.”

Weathers, who was District Attorney at the time, joined in the motion to exonerate on behalf of the State of Mississippi. Judge Helfrich “just did the right thing and wasn’t worried about the consequences,” he said.

Judge Helfrich was a leader in drug intervention courts. He was among the earliest to create separate tracks for veterans and DUI offenders within drug court. He was appointed in 2009 to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, which later became known as All Rise. He served on the State Intervention Courts Advisory Committee for 12 years.

During his service on the NADCP Board of Directors, he introduced judges and court staff from across the country to some of his court’s innovations to keep participants involved in recovery. One of his early programs was basketball and softball teams for intervention court participants. He said in an interview, “It’s to show them there are things that you can do that are enjoyable that don’t involve the drug of choice.” And it was an opportunity for participants to receive encouragement. He cheered for them while serving as third base coach for the softball team when they played against other teams in Hattiesburg’s intramural league. Their canary yellow athletic shirts sported a “Helfrich’s Heroes” logo.

Judge Helfrich was passionate about saving those addicted to drugs. He accepted people into drug intervention court when others thought they were bound to fail. “He would want to try to save somebody and he thought he could do it,” Weathers said. He didn’t take just the first-time minor offenders. “He said, ‘I want the worst of the worst.’ He saved more of those than I ever thought that he would,” Weathers said.

Circuit Judge T. Michael Reed, who was appointed to the bench after Helfrich retired, said some of his own clients in private practice were accepted into drug intervention court when he didn’t think there was hope for them. “I would think this person is too far gone,” he recalled. Helfrich gave them a chance, and he held them accountable.

Colleagues recalled former intervention court participants who credited Helfrich for saving their lives. Zachary remembered one former intervention court participant who introduced himself at Fieldhouse for the Homeless, where Helfrich and fellow members of Parkway Heights United Methodist Church served breakfast every third Sunday. “He said, ‘You put me in jail because I didn’t mind what you told me in drug court. I needed to go and I don’t think I’d be alive today if it wasn’t for you.’”

Zachary said, “He loved his drug court participants and always wanted to do everything he could for them to keep them out of the prison system.”

Judge Curry said, “There are so many people who came through that drug court. They knew he cared about them and they loved him back…..He made the lives of those who came before him better.”

Weathers said, “It wasn’t just a job for him. It was a passion and it showed.”

He had a really gruff exterior, though.

Zachary recalled introducing Judge Helfrich a few years ago when Helfrich received the Hub Award, an annual honor recognizing individuals for exceptional public service and contributions to the community. Zachary had arranged to have Tootsie Pop candies on each table. “At the end, I compared him to a Tootsie Pop. Bob has a very gruff, tough exterior, but inside he was one of the warmest people and caring people for the underdog.”

The judge also loved dogs, keeping a canine companion with him in the courtroom. Stump, aptly named for his short legs, sat at the judge’s feet or napped on a mat under the bench during court, or slept on the couch in the judge’s office. After Stump passed away, Blaze took his place, accompanying the judge during court proceedings, ceremonies and work in his chambers.

Judge Helfrich was the son of Marjorie B. Helfrich, who was born in Ruleville, Mississippi, and Dutch military pilot Jan Eduard Helfrich. The couple met while both worked at Hawkins Field in Jackson during World War II. Marjorie Helfrich returned to Jackson to raise her six children after Jan Eduard Helfrich passed away.

Judge Helfrich served in the U.S. Coast Guard. He earned his undergraduate degree from George Mason University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He served as a public defender in Hattiesburg before becoming an assistant district attorney. He was elected to the 12th Circuit Court on Nov. 5, 2002, and took office on Jan. 1, 2003.