Punishment phase of escapee's trial begins
04:11 PM CST on Monday, November 17, 2003
Prosecutors presented graphic testimony about Patrick Murphy Jr.’s role in a violent prison escape as well as details of his 1984 sexual assault conviction on the first day of the punishment phase of his capital murder trial.
Already convicted of capital murder, Mr. Murphy faces life in prison or the death penalty for his role in the death of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins, who was fatally shot during a botched Christmas Eve 2000 robbery.
Defense attorneys chose not to make any opening remarks for the punishment trial but reserved their right to address the jury of six men and six women later. Mr. Murphy is the sixth member of the so-called Texas Seven prison escapees to return to Dallas County and face trial for the officer’s death.
Five previous trials have resulted in the death penalty. A seventh member of the gang shot himself rather than surrender.
In testimony Monday, an Irving woman recounted how Mr. Murphy had broken in to her apartment. She said she was tied up, gagged and sexually assaulted at knifepoint.
"I had nightmares almost every night for the first five years,’’ she said outside the jury’s presence.
Mr. Murphy was serving a 50-year sentence for a 1984 aggravated sexual assault in Dallas County and was 15 months shy of his first possible parole date when he and six others escaped from the Connally Unit prison near San Antonio on Dec. 13, 2000.
After the escape, the men committed a string of robberies that culminated with the holdup of the Irving sporting-goods store. Officer Hawkins had just finished a holiday dinner with family at a restaurant across State Highway 183 when he was dispatched to investigate suspicious activity at the store. He drove up and was ambushed as the men were loading a cache of stolen guns, camping supplies and more than $70,000 in cash.
The seven men fled to Colorado and stayed together, living in a recreational-vehicle park in a small town near Colorado Springs for about three weeks. They were apprehended after a neighbor recognized them from media reports and called police.
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/111703dnmetescapee.1577b5a5.html
