Mistrial declared in Murphy YDC case after jury deadlocked

MANCHESTER, NH – A Superior Court judge declared a mistrial late Wednesday afternoon in the case of Stephen Murphy, the former Youth Development Center youth counselor accused of raping a 14-year-old boy in 1998, after a jury deadlocked, unable to  reach a verdict.

Judge Amy Messer, presiding in Hillsborough County Superior Court North,

Around noon, jurors informed Judge Amy Messer that they were deadlocked in the case of Stephen Murphy, 55, of Danvers, Mass.  He is charged with one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault.

The jury was brought into the courtroom and Messer encouraged them to go back to the deliberation room and try to come to an agreement.  At that point, the   jury of 11 men and one woman had deliberated for about eight hours over two days.

Just before 4 p.m., after another 3 to 4 hours of deliberation (the jury had the option of resuming deliberations while they had lunch) they again informed the court they were deadlocked.  What the jurors had voted was not revealed.

This is the second criminal trial to end in a hung jury of a state employee accused of sexually abusing a child court-ordered to a state-run juvenile detention facility.

Last September, a Merrimack County Superior Court jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of Victor Malavet, 62, of Gilford.

Malavet is charged with 12 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault involving a 15-year-old girl. He is accused of raping Natasha Maunsell, who also went public with her allegations, in 2001 when she was held at the Youth Detention Services Unit in Concord where he worked.   The judge declared a mistrial in the case.

He is to be retried in June.

At some point, the court will set another date for a retrial.

Murphy is accused of anally raping Michael Gilpatrick, now 41 of Nashua, when he was  a 14-year-old boy, while two of Murphy’s co-workers held him down and a third employee orally raped him on a stairwell at the YDC.

The trial spanned three days last week with attorneys making closing arguments on Tuesday.  An emotional Gilpatrick testified about what allegedly happened to him.  Murphy also took the stand, denying he ever sexually assaulted Gilpatrick.

Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Audriana Mekula, in her closing argument, told the jurors 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, 70, of Dunbarton and James Woodlock, 60, of Manchester, held him down on a stairwell, while Murphy and Jeffrey Buskey, 55, of Dorchester, Mass. raped him.

For decades, she said, Gilpatrick told no one about the rape 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, the house leader, and Woodlock, while Murphy and  Buskey, 55, of Dorchester, Mass., raped him.

It was the second time he took the stand in a criminal case against former YDC workers. In November, testified against Asbury who was convicted of two counts of being an accomplice to aggravated felonious sexual assault.  Asbury 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 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.

Manchester Ink Link normally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault but Gilpatrick and Maunsell both went public with their accusations.

Keefe also told 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.

Keefe maintained 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.

She also pointed out to the jurors, Gilpatrick testified that he froze while being assaulted and did not scream.

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