State v. Murphy

• Decision Date: 12 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. C3-94-1931,C3-94-1931
• Citation: 545 N.W.2d 909
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. John Patrick MURPHY, Petitioner, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 909

545 N.W.2d 909

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. John Patrick MURPHY, Petitioner, Appellant.

No. C3-94-1931.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 12, 1996.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Physical acts, as well as oral and written threats, may constitute threats to commit crimes of violence under Minn.Stat. § 609.713, subd. 1.

2. Defendant's physical acts were threats to commit crimes of violence under Minn.Stat. § 609.713, subd. 1.

3. Presence of severe aggravating factors justified imposing a sentence of more than two times the presumptive sentence established by sentencing guidelines.

4. The district court committed error by imposing consecutive sentences in conjunction with Hernandez method; however, the court did not rely on the defendant's criminal history score in departing from the sentencing guidelines; therefore, the error is harmless and cannot serve as a basis for reversal.

5. Because defendant is not eligible for release from prison for several years and therefore not ready for probation, his claim that the condition of probation, under which Review of Court of Appeals.

he serve his probation outside of the states of Minnesota or Wisconsin or, in the alternative, outside of a 150-mile radius from the borders of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, constitutes banishment is speculative and not ripe for review.

John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Evan W. Jones, Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for Appellant.

John P. Murphy, Stillwater, pro se.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Michael O. Freeman, Hennepin County Atty., Michael Richardson, Asst. County Atty., Minneapolis, for Respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Defendant, John Patrick Murphy, was charged with terroristic threats, conspiracy to commit terroristic threats, criminal damage to property, and burglary. Before trial, Murphy pleaded guilty to ten counts of terroristic threats and one count of conspiracy to commit terroristic threats. He was sentenced to 96 months in prison and 450 months of probation. As a condition of probation, Murphy was ordered to serve his probation outside of the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin, or in the alternative, outside of a radius from the border of Minneapolis and St. Paul at the Mississippi River, for a distance of 150 miles.

Following imposition of sentence from the acceptance of his guilty plea, Murphy appealed. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's acceptance of Murphy's plea to terroristic threats and the sentence imposed. Murphy appeals to this court, maintaining that his conduct did not constitute terroristic threats, the length of his sentence was an abuse of discretion, and the condition of probation constitutes banishment and is thus prohibited by Minnesota law. We conclude that Murphy's conduct constitutes terroristic threats, affirm the district court's imposition of a 96-month sentence, but we do not reach the issue of Murphy's condition of probation because this issue is not ripe for appellate review.

Murphy was charged in a 34-count complaint for what the state has referred to as a "campaign of terror" against persons in the criminal justice system. Murphy's conduct was directed against those persons who have taken action adverse to him in criminal cases in which he was the defendant. Those subject to Murphy's conduct include judges, prosecutors, witnesses, co-defendants, police, state and federal probation employees, and halfway house employees. The nature of Murphy's conduct extends from the heinous to the puerile, including placing dead animals and animal parts--birds, cats, rabbits, deer, and squirrels--at his victims' houses; planting fake bombs; dumping oil and blood on houses; spraypainting epithets and obscenities such as "slut whore," "slut bitch," and "fag, queer, homo," as well as messages such as "I'll come back," "I be back," and "I will be back," on houses and garages; puncturing over 150 tires, breaking car windows, "keying" or scratching cars and damaging car interiors; cutting telephone wires; throwing rocks, bricks, concrete chunks, beer and pop cans and other objects through windows; egging houses and garages; placing broken beer bottles in front of a garage; and calling in fictitious pizza orders and placing fictitious want ads. The conduct alleged in the complaint took place in Ramsey and Dakota Counties and was often committed by stealth under the cover of darkness.

The matter was set for trial in Ramsey County. But, because many of Murphy's victims were employees in the Ramsey County court system, the case was transferred to Hennepin County and a judge from the Fifth Judicial District was assigned to hear the case pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 2.724, subd. 1 (1994). Based on the conduct alleged in the complaint, Murphy faced a potential prison sentence of over 168 years. On April 18, 1994, Murphy pleaded guilty and the court imposed a 96-month executed sentence, together with 450 months probation. The state and Murphy's victims objected to the sentence as being too lenient.

As part of his plea agreement, Murphy admitted to the allegations in the criminal complaint. These allegations reveal that Murphy's conduct began as early as 1978 and continued into 1993. Murphy's victims include three Ramsey County district court judges, two Ramsey County attorneys, a St. Paul city prosecutor, a Ramsey County probation officer, a Department of Corrections employee, a federal probation officer and her neighbor, and two halfway house employees. The record contains a comprehensive portrayal of Murphy's conduct and its effect upon his victims. A complete recounting of Murphy's conduct would be protracted and is not necessary for the disposition of this appeal. The experience of three of Murphy's victims, while hardly doing justice to the extent of fear and apprehension caused by Murphy, does convey the breadth, depth and nature of Murphy's conduct.

One such victim is the Ramsey County judge who presided over a 1985 fifth-degree assault case against Murphy and sentenced him to 90 days in the workhouse. In November 1985, three months after being released from the workhouse, Murphy punctured eight tires on two vehicles parked at the judge's home. He also spraypainted the judge's house, garage, and storage shed in red, and left the ominous message, "I will be back." In January 1986, Murphy did as he had threatened and returned to the judge's home, spraypainting the judge's garage in black and left the message, "I'll be back." In August 1988, Murphy again did as he threatened, returning to the judge's home, leaving a bomb-like package for which the bomb squad had to be called.

Murphy's harassment of the judge continued even while he was in prison, using the prison telephone and the U.S. mail to accomplish what he could no longer do on the outside. In October 1988, while in jail awaiting sentencing on a conviction for state income tax fraud, Murphy placed a false newspaper ad for a room to rent at the judge's home, leading to at least a dozen telephone inquiries. In March 1989, Murphy struck again, placing two false newspaper ads for a room to rent and a garage sale. In November 1989, Murphy placed two newspaper ads announcing an estate sale under the name of the co-owner of the judge's home. In May 1991, Murphy sent two unordered pizzas to the judge's home. In June 1991, after he was released from prison, Murphy made several prank telephone calls to the judge at the judge's office and home.

In November 1992, Murphy's harassment turned sanguinary. He went to the judge's home and placed a dead squirrel with its tail cut off in the driveway; four legs of a deer in front of the garage; a dead rabbit near the driveway; another dead squirrel near the rabbit; and another dead squirrel in a large brown envelope in the mailbox. In December 1992, Murphy had an unordered pizza delivered to the judge's home. In January 1993, Murphy placed a second fake bomb in the judge's mailbox. The bomb squad was again called to the judge's home, where they examined the box by x-ray and determined that the bomb was fake. The judge told police investigators that prior to conducting Murphy's trial, the judge had not experienced any similar acts of vandalism or terrorism.

The experience of a St. Paul city prosecutor also typifies the protracted harassment, vandalism, and terrorism to which Murphy subjected his victims. In May 1984, the prosecutor successfully prosecuted Murphy on the charge of fifth-degree assault. Two years later, the prosecutor charged Murphy with trespassing at the home of the assault victim in the 1984 case. In June 1986, Murphy pleaded guilty to this new charge and served 25 days in jail. In April 1987, the prosecutor began probation violation proceedings against Murphy because of Murphy's continued harassment of his assault victim, her neighbor, and two Ramsey County judges.

In August 1987, Murphy commenced a campaign of retaliation against the prosecutor. Murphy reported the prosecutor to the Minnesota Lawyer's Professional Responsibility Board on several baseless charges. Two months later, Murphy went to the prosecutor's home and punctured all four tires on the prosecutor's car. Murphy subsequently returned to the prosecutor's home on several occasions to puncture car tires, after which the prosecutor moved from Minneapolis ¹ to White Bear Lake, Minnesota, located in Ramsey County.

Four years later, the attacks against the prosecutor resumed. In October 1992, Murphy again punctured all four tires on the prosecutor's car. In November 1992, he once again punctured the tires of the prosecutor's car, but this time he also "keyed" or scratched the body panels of the car and threw dead animals and animal parts in the yard. Murphy's last attack against the prosecutor took place in January 1993, when he once again punctured the tires of the prosecutor's car. The prosecutor told...