Third Judicial District Judge Mike Murphy
The lawyer representing Third Judicial District Judge Mike Murphy has filed several motions seeking the dismissal of bribery charges against his client.
The motions challenge the grand jury indictment of Murphy based on a number of procedural issues, alleging that the grand jury was given improper instructions, that prosecutors failed to present evidence that would have helped Murphy, that prosecutors presented irrelevant evidence, and that the target notice notifying Murphy that he might be indicted failed to properly notify him of the charges he was potentially facing.
“The prosecution of Judge Murphy should end soon,” said Murphy’s attorney, Michael Stout. “Judge Murphy has done nothing wrong, and absent a flawed procedure there would be no prosecution.”
He hinted that additional motions to dismiss might be coming.
“This first set of motions simply points out some of many procedural flaws, but regardless of the legal jargon, the fact remains that Judge Murphy is factually innocent,” Stout said. “He should return to the bench sooner than later.”
Murphy has been suspended by the N.M. Supreme Court pending the outcome of the case.
Ninth Judicial District Attorney Matt Chandler, the special prosecutor on the case, said he’s confident the charges will stand.
“We presented all of the relevant facts to the grand jury, including the recording of the defendant discussing the bribes, and at the end of the day, 12 independent citizens of Doña Ana County found probable cause that Judge Murphy broke several of New Mexico’s bribery laws,” Chandler said.
“Now the criminal defense team is going to do all they can to attack the findings of the grand jurors,” he said. “It’s just one of the first moves of many from the defense to try and keep this from moving forward. We will file our responses in due time and we are confident the grand jury indictment will stand up in court.”
Murphy is facing felony bribery charges and a misdemeanor charge of violating the state’s Governmental Conduct Act.
Prosecutors allege that Murphy solicited a bribe from potential judicial applicant Beverly Singleman, told District Judge Lisa Schultz to tell Singleman she needed to pay the bribe, and threatened to destroy Singleman’s reputation for telling others that he solicited a bribe from her.
Murphy has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for November.
Evidence Stout says was excluded
A memo filed in support of the dismissal motions states that Murphy claims that any advice he offered Singleman, directly at a lunch on Sept. 13, 2007 and later through District Judge Lisa Schultz, “was standard political advice, not intended to elicit a bribe” and is “protected by the First Amendment.”
Prosecutors have made portions of a journal Schultz kept about the situation public, and those notes indicate that Schultz feared Murphy was part of a larger criminal conspiracy that went all the way to Richardson and involved other judges. But among the evidence Stout alleges Chandler failed to present to the grand jury, one of the motions to dismiss states, is “Judge Schultz’s testimony that she thought what Judge Murphy was saying might be untrue because he has a penchant for saying outrageous things.”
Also of note in the filings is Stout’s claim that Chandler failed to show the grand jury “Judge Murphy’s bank records showing innocent transactions and showing no payment for $4,000 for his appointment.” That’s the amount former District Judge Stephen Bridgforth says Murphy told him he paid for his appointment.
“Omission of this critical and exculpatory piece of evidence is especially egregious because the foreman of the grand jury asked to be provided with such information and was put off by the prosecutor,” the motion states.
You can read the motions seeking dismissal of the charges against Murphy here, here, here and here, and the memo in support of the motions here.
A prior version of this article incorrectly stated that Murphy is charged with paying a bribe for his position.