By: Steve Lash

Court of Appeals Judge Joseph F. Murphy Jr. was in perhaps the last place a person would want to be when the earthquake hit yesterday — in surgery to remove a blockage in a carotid artery.

Fortunately,  the tremors did not sway the hands of his surgeon, Murphy said by telephone from his hospital bed this morning. Murphy said he expects to be released this afternoon from St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson.

“They discovered it during an annual physical,” Murphy said of the blockage. “My carotid artery had narrowed to the point it had to be cleaned out but fortunately all went well.”

Murphy, 67, said he will be on the bench Wednesday, when the Court of Appeals begins its 2011-2012 term. However, Murphy — as he announced earlier this year — will retire from the bench Sept. 30 to join the law firm Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White LLC in Baltimore, where his daughter Erin is an associate.