Posted on 12/06/2004 2:59:36 PM PST by Diddle E. Squat
Hall of Fame basketball player Calvin Murphy was found not guilty today of charges he molested five of his daughters.
Jurors deliberated just two hours before finding Murphy not guilty on all six counts.
When the verdict was read, Murphy closed his eyes, then looked up at the ceiling.
Earlier today during closing arguments, prosecutors Murphy as a cheat and a child molester today, while defense attorneys maintained that the daughters accusing him of sexual abuse were lying in an orchestrated effort to make him pay.
"You can never fully repair his reputation," defense attorney Rusty Hardin told jurors during closing arguments. "But you can take that first step in righting an injustice."
Hardin asked jurors to find Murphy innocent of abusing five of his 10 daughters between 1988 and 1991. He faces three charges of indecency with a child and three charges of aggravated sexual assault.
Prosecutors, however, labeled Murphy "a master of manipulation."
"He concealed from his own wife for more than 20 years that he has four other families," prosecutor Paula Storts told jurors. "He's a liar. He's a cheat and he's a child molester."
The monthlong trial's testimony phase ended last week after Murphy testified in his own defense and tearfully denied the allegations.
Jurors began deliberating the case this afternoon following three hours of closing arguments.
If convicted, Murphy faces five years to life in prison for the aggravated offenses and two to 20 years for the indecency violations.
Prosecutors say Murphy tried to maintain a public image of having only one family, even though he has 14 children with nine women. He only married one of the women, according to prosecutors, and accepted her children. They said his children with the other women were told not to call him "Dad."
Prosecutor Lance Long said some of the women's outcries as teenagers went unanswered and one was placed in a mental hospital after speaking out.
Long claimed Murphy molested those he didn't think would tell and those whom nobody would believe. He kept the girls' mothers "under his thumb" through emotional and financial dependence on him, Long said.
Murphy's attorneys say the former Houston Rocket didn't abuse any of his children. They claim the allegations by his daughters, now all adults, stem from a dispute over money and resentment over the way Murphy treated some of the children compared to others.
Defense attorney Rusty Hardin said jurors shouldn't let the way Murphy lived his life influence their verdict.
"Don't be sidetracked by a lot of these issues," he urged. "These are fabricated charges."
He disputed prosecutors' assertion that Murphy controlled the women in his life and said, "the only power Calvin Murphy had was the power of discipline to get into the Hall of Fame at 5-foot-10.
"He is a ruined man," Hardin said. "They have already won. Now, the question is whether he is going to go to the penitentiary."
Defense attorneys say three of the five women have been trying to claim $52,408 in death benefits left in a Teacher Retirement System of Texas account belonging to their mother, Phyllis Davidson. Murphy had a 20-year relationship and four children with Davidson, who died in a car accident in 1996.
This year, the three daughters continued their grandmother's earlier protests over Murphy receiving the benefits. He was listed as the account's beneficiary, according to court records.
On Feb. 20, letters went to Murphy, his three daughters and their grandmother saying that Murphy was the account's rightful beneficiary.
A month later, Murphy, 56, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse and indecency with the five daughters, including three with Davidson.
Murphy was drafted in 1970 by the San Diego Rockets, who moved to Houston the following season. He quickly became a fan favorite. His 17,949 points were a franchise high until Hakeem Olajuwon passed him.
Known as the "Pocket Rocket" because of his small stature, Murphy missed just nine free throws -- and made 78 straight in one stretch -- in 1980-81 for a record single-season percentage of .958.
Too bad. His reputation has been ruined by false charges and there's not much he can do about it.
Sounds like it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. FOUR FAMILIES? Denied the children their Mom's death benefits? Are you're worried about HIS reputation?
No evidence, no priors, no case. Any one can claim that they were abused 'x' years ago; but unless you can show evidence to substanciate it, I don't think it should stand.
Granted, he is not the ideal father, role model, nor can I find much to admire about him in any capacity. But being a cretin and being a child molester are two very different things.
He's reputation is deservedly ruined even assuming the molestation charges were totally bogus. What a cad, he's just reaping the results of his dishonesty, irresponsible lifestyle, and being too lazy to buy condoms or a vasectomy. Not a bit of sympathy for him from me.
Now if the daughters made up the molestation charges, then I'd like to see them in jail for extortion, though that'll never happen.
Having not been privy to all the evidence and testimony heard in court but rather based upon what I did see and hear reported on in the media I too must say that I had enough doubt that I'd have to find the way the jury did.
Too bad. His reputation has been ruined by false charges and there's not much he can do about it.
Yes, that's always the down side to the type of system used. (some) People will always look at him with a bit of doubt in their minds. He will never be able to reclaim his reputation no matter what he does.
But what does it say about a man who has that many children willing to do this to him...
He was the legal and rightful beneficiary of the policy. So you want to convict someone of child molestation for collecting perfectly a perfectly legal insurance settlement?
you're worried about HIS reputation?
Of course I am, and so should every other decent citizen. No man deserves to face false accusations of molesting his children. Even if he was a murderer, still these false allegations would be a terrible crime. Once we cease to care about protecting the reputations of our fellow citizens from false criminal charges, we will have forfeited all our legal rights.
Yet only one of those things is a crime Paula.
Looks to me like 5 women conspired to get some money out of this creep.
Though they might have had it coming to them , this is the wrong way to get it.
i know..he won't be nominated for the father of the year award by the boys and girls club of houston
A lot of people were surprised to find that Murphy had been so promiscuous, but he was a local sports legend and a very popular announcer for the Rockets.
That's all gone now. He's no role model, but nobody deserves to be charged with false sexual molestation charges.
volumes.
cad.
78 straight free throws and ten ackowledged daughters..boy..this lad could really find the hoop
Agreed. I am not a fan of Murphy. Never liked him in fact. but, when a Insurance company rules in his favor and the next thing you know they all start yelling child abuser.......well the jury didn't buy it either.
If Scott Peterson was an athlete, he would have been found not guily.
If Sadaam Hussein was an athlete, he would be found not guilty.
Stalin and Hitler should have been athletes.
Well he worked with a local childrens center here. If he were a child molester, do you really think it would just be these five money hungry women? You bet the HPD interrogated every kid that ever got near Murphy. Again I don't like him, but I don't like lynch mobs headed by greedy bitches.
What was he doing outside the Rockets media? Did he still run a gymnastic school?
I don't recall it being a gymnastic school, although gym may have been part of the activities. It was some sort of community outreach for kids.
I, too, have never liked Calvin Murphy, he is a loud mouth windbag with horrible diction.
However, he is not guilty of molesting his children when they were younger. If it had been true, we would have heard about it years ago.
It's speaks volumes about the mental state of his daughters that they would do all this for $52,000.
It was a marching group.
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