Jury hears closing arguments in latest YDC abuse case

UPDATE: A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the case of Stephen Murphy, a former Youth Development Center counselor accused of raping a 14-year-old boy on a stairwell 26 years ago, after the jury was deadlocked.

Check back for more on this story later today.

MANCHESTER, NH – A jury of 11 men and one woman are deliberating the guilt or innocence of Stephen Murphy, a former Youth Development Center counselor accused of raping a 14-year-old boy on a stairwell 26 years ago inside the state-operated juvenile detention facility.

The jury Tuesday morning listened to attorneys’ closing arguments, followed by Judge Amy Messer’s instructions on the law.  Last week, over three days, they listened to testimony including from both the accused and the alleged victim, Michael Gilpatrick, 41, of Nashua.

Murphy, 55, of Danvers, Mass. is charged with one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault accusing him of anally raping Michael Gilpatrick, then a 14-year-old boy, while two of Murphy’s co-workers restrained the child and a third orally raped him.

Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Audriana Mekula, in her closing argument, told the jurors that Gilpatrick may be unclear on dates and times but what he has said in his two interviews with police, in two depositions, at two meetings and at two trials has never changed:  Bradley Asbury and James Woodlock held him down on a stairwell, while Murphy and Jeffrey Buskey raped him.

For decades, she said, Gilpatrick told no one what happened to him because he was embarrassed and believed he was to blame for it.   She said he doesn’t remember dates or times but testified the assault happened sometime in late May or early June 1998 after he was returned by police to East Cottage at YDC, after he went AWOL on a furlough home.

Gilpatrick told jurors he was held down by Asbury, 70, of Dunbarton, the house leader in East Cottage, and Woodlock, 60, of Manchester, while Murphy and  Buskey, 55, of Dorchester, Mass., raped him.  Last year, he testified at the civil trial brought by Meehan against the state.  In November, he took the stand against Asbury who was convicted of two counts of being an accomplice to aggravated felonious sexual assault.  His sentencing is Jan. 27.

Defense Attorney Charles J. Keefe, in his closing argument, told the Hillsborough County Superior Court North jurors that Murphy didn’t do it and his client is the victim of a false accusation.   The evidence, he said, backs up Murphy’s testimony.

“Steve didn’t rape Michael Gilpatrick.  He told you he didn’t do it.  The evidence told you he didn’t do it.  Even Michael Gilpatrick’s own testimony told you he didn’t do it.  The evidence presented to you in this trial demands only one verdict, and that is a verdict of not guilty because not only did the State fail to come even close to proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the evidence has shown you Stephen is innocent,” said Keefe.

Murphy took the stand last Friday and denied sexually assaulting Gilpatrick.  \Manchester Ink Link normally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault but Gilpatrick went public with his accusations.  He was the second man to come forward after David Meehan, about the alleged widespread sexual, physical and emotional abuse that took place at the state-run juvenile detention center on River Road in Manchester. The facility once held around 110 teens but now, renamed the John H. Sununu Youth Services Center, it has about 10 residents.

It was the second time Gilpatrick has testified about his 1998 alleged rape at a criminal time.

Keefe, in his closing argument, told the jurors if what Gilpatrick described happened – being swept off his feet by Buskey and Murphy, face-planting on the floor, and  being carried up the stairwell, his head banging on the floor and against the wall, causing him to go in and out of consciousness, and then being raped by two men – he would have injuries and bruises.  He would have screamed.  Yet, Keefe said, there are no medical records documenting injuries and no witness to any of it.

“If something like this actually happened, it would have been violent.  It would have been loud.  There would have been struggling and fighting – the banging of Mr. Gilpatrick’s head on the floor and walls and stairs; and there would have been screaming…  This would have been loud.  People would have seen or heard all of it in that building.  But nobody did because it didn’t happen,” Keefe said.

He was seen by medical personnel, records for which do not document any injuries, the defense attorney said.

And, Keefe told the jurors that in the time frame that Gilpatrick said the rape occurred, none of the four men worked at the same time.  He also pointed out more than a dozen inconsistencies in Gilpatrick’s account to show how his story has changed over time.

Mekula rebutted Keefe’s statement about the four men’s work schedules and held up for the jurors to see their YDC timecards from June 5, 1998 which, she said, shows all four men worked that day, providing collaboration of what Gilpatrick said.

Mekula asked the jurors to think back to something that had happened to them years ago and see if they remember details such as the date, day of week or time of the incident.

And, she pointed out to the jurors, that Gilpatrick testified he didn’t scream when he was being assaulted, that he froze.

She said Gilpatrick, when committed to the YDC at the age of 14, didn’t have the family he needed or deserved, and Murphy took advantage of that. “He had Mike right where he wanted him, alone and abandoned.”

Gilpatrick isn’t “afraid of this man anymore,” she said turning and pointing to Murphy.  “No, it was not his fault.  It was the defendant’s fault.  It was the defendant who raped Mike Gilpatrick with the help of the others.”

The jury began deliberations about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.  They will resume their deliberations Wednesday at 9 a.m.

After Meehan came forward, the state launched an investigation of the juvenile facility, resulting in a total of 11 men being charged.  One case was later dropped for lack of evidence; another man was found incompetent to stand trial, and a third died.

Murphy is the fourth to be tried.

In addition to Asbury, Stanley Watson was convicted last week of three counts of aggravated sexual assault against two boys. A fourth case ended in a hung jury and is to be tried again later this year.

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