JAMES MURPHY

James Richard Murphy, 49, was sentenced on July 3 in Shasta County Superior Court to 25 years-to-life under California’s “three strikes” law. Murphy pled guilty on June 2 to a single felony charge of failing to register as a sex offender and admitted having two prior serious and violent felony convictions in 1992 for the child molestations of his then seven-year-old stepdaughters.

In addition to the prior convictions for child molestation, Murphy was previously convicted of residential burglary in 1986. Also, in 1997, while on probation for the child molestation convictions, the defendant was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender as well as the statutory rape of another minor female.

Upon the 1997 convictions, Murphy had been sentenced to state prison for a four-year term and was initially paroled in 2000. He thereafter violated his parole and was returned to prison on three separate occasions.

The present case resulted from a Redding Police compliance check of sex offenders in November, 2007. Police learned that Murphy had moved out of his Chestnut Street address the previous May without notifying police as required by law.

His whereabouts remained unknown until March 11, 2008, when Anderson Police arrested him during a separate investigation. When he was arrested, Murphy was found in possession of a small amount of methamphetamine. He acknowledged being aware of his requirement to register as a sex offender, moving from his address months before, and failing to notify law enforcement.

Murphy blamed his failure to comply with the registration law on his addiction to methamphetamine.

In sentencing Murphy, Judge James Ruggerio noted Murphy’s earlier conviction for residential burglary, the particularly heinous nature of the 1992 molestation convictions, and the fact that he had previously been convicted of failing to register, during which time he sexually victimized another minor.