Kevin Murphy's Appeal Reversed!

Court overturns murder conviction
New trial ordered for ex-Marine reservist accused in fatal stabbing

By ROBERT GAVIN, Staff writer
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First published: Friday, May 2, 2008

ALBANY -- A former Marine reservist convicted of fatally stabbing a 20-year-old man two years ago will get a new trial, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
Kevin Murphy, 28, has been serving a 25 years-to-life sentence at Upstate Correctional Facility in Franklin County for the April 30, 2006, slaying of Joseph Jerome during a street fight on Hudson Avenue.

But he'll get a new chance at a freedom following Thursday's ruling by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court. It found evidence used to convict Murphy -- specifically a phone call he made to his family while being interviewed by police -- should not have been played, in its entirety, at trial.

On Thursday, the second anniversary of the killing, the midlevel court reversed the second-degree murder conviction and sent the case back for a new trial.

Murphy and Jerome did not know each other when their paths crossed after 1 a.m. the morning of the homicide. Albany County Assistant Chief District Attorney Mark Harris, who prosecuted the case, said in 2006 that Murphy "went after" Jerome after being punched in the mouth.

"But the other kid hadn't punched him," Harris added. "And he had nothing to do with punching him."

Police believed Murphy stabbed Jerome once in the chest outside Murphy's Hudson Avenue home that morning. Jerome had been living in Schenectady.

Murphy agreed to speak to police, but their interrogation stopped once he asked for a lawyer. Murphy then spoke to his father and sister on a police phone, and was told the line was being tape-recorded. The 14-minute conversation was used against him at trial, the Appellate Division noted.

While his request for an attorney did not make the evidence unfit for trial, he had repeatedly invoked his right against self-incrimination, the court said, continuing it was "unable to conclude that there is no reasonable possibility that the evidence regarding defendant's invocation of his rights contributed to his conviction."

In addition, the court noted evidence of Murphy's guilt at the trial was "not overwhelming."

Jerome, the father of a young boy, was killed in an area between the College of Saint Rose and the University of Albany's downtown campus. The neighborhood is home to scores of college students, many of whom frequent the bars on Madison and Washington avenues.

At his sentencing, Murphy told Judge Thomas Breslin he acted in self-defense. "I want you to know that Joseph was not killed in cold blood -- his death was an accident," he said. "I have served my country and when called upon to fight the war on terrorism and free the people of Iraq, I went ... now I'll be forced to live like an animal among animals. I ask you to look at the facts of this case."

His appeal was handled by Mitchell Kessler of Cohoes, who could not be reached Thursday. "The decision speaks for itself," said Heather Orth, a spokeswoman for Albany County District Attorney David Soares. "We'll move forward to prosecuting the case again."

Finally, I have faith in the justice system once again.

Murphy was innocent from day 1 and defending himself from three troublesome bullies.

Funny how the DA use Murphy's marine military experiences against him, but the convictions of the three young men was never a big deal!?!?!?

Please tell me how someone can be convicted of 2nd degree murder when they are simply defending themselves on their own property, while punks approach Mr. Murphy (who had a cast on)?

HOW IS THIS NOT SELF DEFENSE!!!!!

Murphy was an outstanding citizen and loyal friend to all who were close to him. He was capable of defending himself (being that he DID go to war and fight for this great country).

Why was that used against him? How could the jury really think this man is guilty?

Sad to see such a young man lose all hopes and dreams he had, for what could have been easily prevented. I dont ever believe he deserved a sentence of 25 yrs to life for defending himself.

God bless Kevin's family and his supporters.

Glad to see the appellate division realized the tape should have never been allowed by Breslin as evidence.

What was he thinking?

And to not instruct the jury with self defense details?

You would think we lived in a corrupt part of the world!

I remember hearing about this one....

How can one young man's life be ruined if he was defending himself? How could the jury not understand Murphy was a young man who fought for our country and when posed by three threats, immediately knew how to protect himself?

Doesn't make sense to me

now if only the appellate court could help my brother too......some not so clean d.a.'s out there....Glad to see the system is working in this way.

Yes...... I wish your brother and your family the best of luck. He worked on his appeal for over a year and beat the horrible odds against him.

Best thing you can do is be positive and hope that the appellate courts acknowledge his innocence.

Murphy's exploits were clearly a matter of self-defense. Why rogue Judge Breslin did not allow the jury to consider self-defense is beyond me.

As I remeber the story, Murphy, who at the time was wearing a cast on his broken arm, was attacked by three known criminals in front of his home. He defended himsef and his property only to be charged with 2nd degree murder by the incompetent district attorneys office. Then Breslin seals his fate by allowing the jury to hear evidence which was gained by way of entrapment and violations of Murphy's Constitutional rights.

I can only hope that an American hero like Murphy recieves a fair and impartial trial.

The DA and the Judge are trying to clean up albany at all expenses even though it is a case of self defense, they dont care. These three thugs were aggressive left the property and came back to do more damage to Murphy but the prosecutors dont care and it makes me sick

It seems as though all of the posted comments are by the same person...

does anyone ever remember the berrnie goetz case? or how about the case in long island recently where a man by the name of John White shot a 17 year old boy that was in the street in front of white's house. He was only charged with manslaughter and served 1 1/3 - 4. But Murphy gets 25-life? I'm glad i'm not in Albany. It appears its nothing shy of a nazi prison camp. I wish Murphy the best of luck this time around. By the way, does anyone know when his next trial is?

Anonymous wrote:

It seems as though all of the posted comments are by the same person...

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I agree. How could all these people blindly side with Murphy when they weren't there that day. And what about the victim's family?

I feel bad for all involved, but from what I understand, these people came after Kevin Murphy. Were the two friends of Mr. Jerome ever charged with assault? I am interested to see the outcome of the new trial.

GOD bless both families but HE WAS PROTECTING HIS LIFE LIKE HE DID IN THE WAR STOP BEING SO STUPID JURORS GIVE HE A FAIR TRAIL AND PLEASE TAKE IN ALL CONSIDERATION THEY CAME TO HIS HOME