FARMINGTON – A New Sharon woman was convicted of using a stungun to assault a Maine State trooper today, with the jury returning the verdict after the defendant refused to return to the courtroom.
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Carol Murphy, 65, of 248 Lane Road in New Sharon, was convicted of assaulting an officer, a Class C felony, refusing to submit to arrest or detention, criminal use of an electronic weapon, and two counts of cruelty to animals, all Class D misdemeanors. The jury deliberated for roughly thirty minutes before the foreperson announced the verdict.
The foreperson did so to an empty chair at the defendant’s table, as Murphy had left the courtroom at 11:30 a.m. and gone back into one of the adjacent conference rooms. Following a recess and break for lunch, at which time Murphy was removed to the Franklin County Detention Center, Assistant District Attorney James Andrews was informed by jail transportation personnel that she was refusing to return to court.
The charges were filed in relation to an incident occurring on Oct. 14, 2009, at Murphy’s home. Maine State Trooper Aaron Turcotte, who testified Wednesday for the state, received a complaint from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals organization that Murphy’s home contained animals.
Murphy is barred from possessing animals for life, following her 2005 conviction for animal cruelty.
Upon running Murphy’s name through his computer, Turcotte testified, he learned that a warrant had been issued for her arrest regarding unpaid fines associated with the 2005 conviction. He drove his marked vehicle, while in uniform, to her home in New Sharon and located Murphy in front of her house.
“Long story short,” Turcotte said of their initial encounter, “she told me that the warrant was no good, that I had no jurisdiction.”
Turcotte could be heard, on a recording running off of a uniform-mounted microphone which was played for the jury, asking Murphy if she wanted to gather some of her things and lock up her house prior to being taken to the detention center. Murphy went back inside her house and Turcotte went to his cruiser, where he could be heard checking with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department that an up-to-date warrant existed.
After roughly five minutes, Turcotte went to Murphy’s front door, knocking and asking her to hurry up. He told the jury that he could hear dogs barking. When she reappeared, behind a locked interior door with her back facing the trooper, Turcotte said he assumed she had something in her hands and needed help opening the exterior door.
At that point, Turcotte testified, he felt a “sharp pain” at his neck and face. Murphy had hit him with a stungun, advertised at delivering 975,000 volts through the skin, as he had held the door open for her.
“She was holding it out like this,” Turcotte said, holding up his left arm. “She had a big smile on her face.”
On the tape, Turcotte’s quiet voice is obscured by a loud crackling noise, followed by the trooper yelling at Murphy.
“What the heck are you doing that for?” Turcotte can be heard saying on the tape. “Get on the ground. Get on the ground, now.”
Turcotte subdued Murphy with pepper spray and eventually wrestled her to the ground and placed her in handcuffs. On the tape, Murphy can be heard explaining her reasoning.
“The law says if you have a bad warrant and you try to arrest me,” she says, “then I can kill you.”
“I just got tased in the face,” Turcotte told dispatchers when he secured Murphy and returned to his vehicle. “10-46 [Prisoner in custody].”
Turcotte did not require medical treatment. Upon searching Murphy at the detention center, corrections officers found a knife with a four-inch blade after she told them she had a “letter opener” in her pocket.
State police contacted Maine Department of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Program to remove a number of animals from the home the next morning. Christine Fraser, a veterinarian with the AWP, testified that she and other personnel went to the residence. There they seized more than 40 animals, ranging from dogs and cats to birds to a miniature donkey and pot-bellied pig. Several farm animals, such as ducks, chickens and alpacas, were also found on the property.
Animals were discovered in crates and cages, oftentimes without food and water. Many were below-average in weight and clinically dehydrated. One dog, termed ‘Dog3′ in Fraser’s notes, registered as a one on the nine-point Laflamme Scale, classifying it as “emaciated.” This dog’s condition prompted one of the state’s two animal cruelty charges.
“I was extremely concerned about this dog,” Fraser said.
The other charge was prompted by the condition of the pot-bellied pig, which was being kept in a cage that pressed up against its snout and backside when it tried to lie down. Its long, overgrown nails and 300-pound, excessive weight due to lack of exercise caused the animal to suffer from ligament damage, according to the AWP.
In addition to being without food and water and being housed in small, filthy cages, Fraser said, the animals suffered from the “horrible air quality” of the house. High levels of ammonia, she said, caused AWP personnel who worked at 248 Lane Road to develop sore throats after a few hours in the house. Many animals were so dehydrated, Fraser testified, that they gained “two to four pounds” of water weight after a single evening in state custody, merely by having access to drinking water.
Murphy, who was representing herself, left the courtroom during Andrews’ questioning of Fraser, in a culmination of sometimes-bizarre behavior during the trial.
“Hi,” she said to the jury, during her brief opening statement, “sorry you got dragged out here today.”
Murphy told the jury that because she had filed a “federal lawsuit” in Boston on Feb. 8, which she said named Justice Murphy and Andrews as defendants for unspecified “wrong doing,” that Wednesday’s proceedings were irrelevant. Murphy explained to the jury that she intended to not present a defense or participate in the case.
“I therefore cannot participate in this case,” she said. “Just so you know why I’m reading books or writing. Whatever you decide is irrelevant.”
Murphy went on to accuse the state of Maine of running a “racketeering” scam through pet adoption and rehabilitation facilities, reiterating that the case against her would be decided in Boston.
Throughout the trial, Murphy repeatedly refused to rise for the entrance of either Justice Michaela Murphy or the jury, as is customary, and interrupted the court and witnesses to declare that she was being prosecuted in a “kangaroo court.”
Murphy did not present witnesses or cross-examine the state’s witnesses, claiming that Justice Murphy and the Franklin County Superior Court did not have “jurisdiction” over her. She had made similar claims during earlier court appearances, including a two-day custody hearing at which the state gained control of the animals seized from 248 Lane Road, many of which have already been adopted, according to Fraser.
It remains unclear what lawsuit Murphy was referring to when she addressed the jury. She has filed a suit in federal district court in Boston, dated Feb. 3, against “the State of Maine, [Justice] Michaela Murphy, [District Attorney] Norman Croteau, [Assistant District Attorney] James Andrews, [Assistant District Attorney] Andrew Robinson, [AWP Director] Norma Worley, [AWP Veterinarian] Christine Fraser, [Trooper] Aaron Turcotte,” according to documents associated with “Murphy v. State of Maine et al.”
It is uncertain as how this filing squares with an order issued by Judge John Woodcock, Jr. on Feb. 18, 2009, which forbids the filing of lawsuits by Murphy which “involves, directly or indirectly, any dispute between Ms. Murphy and state or municipal officials within the state of Maine concerning animals,” without prior review by clerk. This order was issued following the dismissal of nine lawsuits initiated by Murphy against municipal, state and judicial entities in Maine.
“Ms. Murphy has consistently abused her right to access to the courts by repeatedly and unsuccessfully suing the same or similar state and municipal officials and then threatening to sue and suing the federal judges who conclude that her frivolous lawsuits lack merit,” Woodcock wrote in the order. “This must stop.”
At one point in today’s proceedings, while entering the courtroom when the jury was not present, Murphy demanded that either court officers or FCSD personnel arrest Justice Murphy and Andrews, citing “criminal charges” she had filed against them.
“Is someone planning to call [Sheriff] Dennis Pike [to enforce ‘criminal charges’] or do I have to do it myself to arrest this [expletive]?” Murphy said.
“We’ll address that remark after today’s proceedings,” Justice Murphy responded.
Following Murphy leaving the courtroom in the middle of Fraser’s testimony, Justice Murphy asked Attorney George Hess, who had previously been appointed to assist the defendant as stand-by counsel, to contact Murphy and discover her intentions. After the recess, both Hess and Jail Administrator Doug Blauvelt informed Justice Murphy that the defendant was refusing to return to court.
“She believes that this is not fair,” Blauvelt told Justice Murphy, when asked if Murphy had indicated why she did not want to return to court.
Justice Murphy noted that, under Rule 43 of the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure, a defendant voluntarily leaving the courtroom and refusing to return was not grounds to halt the trial. The jury was brought back into the court and instructed that the case would continue.
It concluded shortly thereafter, with the defense, now absent, calling no witnesses and offering no closing argument. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all five counts in roughly 30 minutes.
Justice Murphy indicated that Murphy would appear before the court Thursday to discuss the scheduling of a sentencing hearing. A Class C felony carries with it a possible maximum jail sentence of five years.
Justice Murphy also said that a criminal contempt proceeding would be discussed at that time, regarding Murphy’s behavior in court.
