(Detective) "You"re so guilty you child molester."
(Defendant) "I know. I'm just glad she's not pregnant like her mother."
This is the false confession that a Deputy District Attorney in California's Kern County inserted into an interrogation transcript during a 2013 child molestation case. Murray was the acting prosecutor in the case, which concerned a defendant charged with five counts of lewd and/or lascivious conduct with a child under 14. Murray provided discovery to defense counsel, including a translation of the defendant's statement during interrogation, which the defendant originally gave in Spanish.
Murray was silent for nine days before he admitted he lied, after the defendant's attorney confronted him about the fabrication. According to USA Today:
"The defense attorney got a copy of the audio tape of the interrogation, but it "ended abruptly." Eventually, Murray admitted to falsifying the transcript, presumably in the hopes of either coercing a plea deal, or ensuring a victory at trial.
Murray claims it was a joke intended for the defense counsel only. But Peter Kang, the Kern County Chief Deputy Public Defender whose office represented the defendant, didn't seem to think it was funny,
saying, "It's terrifying, it's shocking and bizarre."
Even more bizarre? This lying prosecutor is still employed. See more below.
A Kern County judge dismissed the charges against the defendant because of Murray's lie. The state appealed the dismissal, but the California Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling, stating that Murray "clearly engaged in egregious misconduct that prejudiced the defendant's constitutional right to counsel." The California State Bar filed disciplinary charges against Murray and prosecuted them in State Bar Court in late August. A State Bar representative confirmed that there is an open case regarding his actions, and expects to make a decision around December 16.
If ever there was prosecutorial misconduct, this seems to fit the bill: Altering records, creating evidence, and lying about a confession. Courts have twice agreed that his behavior was outrageous. The California State Bar is thinking about disbarment. And let's say, for the sake of argument, that the defendant was guilty of child molestation. Because of Robert Murray, he now walks free.
But thus far there has been no real punishment for Murray. Defendants are still at the mercy of a man who brazenly invented a confession.
The Kern County District Attorney's Office was unwilling to comment on the incident and hesitant to confirm his employment at all. Three employees refused to answer the question, and I was transferred three times before someone confirmed that Murray was still a Deputy District Attorney in the office.
The standards for prosecutorial conduct must be higher. California has recently signed a new bill that is meant to address rampant misconduct, but it is not enough. The defendant is not even eligible for civil damages. From USA Today:
Prosecutors are also immune from civil suit, under a Supreme Court-created doctrine called "absolute immunity" that is one of the greatest, though least discussed, examples of judicial activism in history. So prosecutors won't punish prosecutors, and victims of prosecutors' wrongdoing can't even sue them for damages.
This case continues to be a stain on the Kern County District Attorney's office, largely because they have chosen to side with Murray instead of demanding integrity and establishing high standards for their employees.
There must be punishment for sabotaging a case and potentially putting a man in jail for the rest of his life based on false evidence.
We will be following the California State Bar's decision regarding Murray's potential disbarment.