Convicted stalker sent back to prison

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

July 1, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Beltrami County Attorney Time Faver and Bemidji City Attorney Al Felix feel vindicated that convicted stalker John Patrick Murphy was never moved to Bemidji last year.

On Tuesday, a Hennepin County district judge revoked Murphy's probation and sentenced him to two years in prison for tampering with his monitoring bracelet and leaving the area to which he was restricted.

Murphy will serve 12 to 13 months in prison with credit for good behavior and time already served since he was arrested in March.

"I think it certainly vindicates the concerns (that) the residents of Bemidji and the area had," Faver said Wednesday. "He is a dangerous person."

"We felt he would be back in the system at sometime," Felix said. "I think it was the right decision, and (his recent conviction) obviously bears it out."

Felix and Faver fought vigorously to have Bemidji removed as a possible home for Murphy when Felix learned in September that the Minnesota Department of Corrections was to release him to this community.

Not only did they approach city and county officials, but they raised public awareness through the use of the media as to the fact that Murphy was scheduled to live here.

But ultimately, Felix said that if it were not for the decision of one person, the Department of Corrections probably would have released him here despite their pleas.

Felix said that a local motel owner, who had originally agreed to let Murphy live in their facility, changed their mind about the situation after the two attorneys raised a ruckus about Murphy.

"I'm sure the publicity influenced the decision of the motel owner. It must have weighted on their mind," Felix said. "But (had they decided to accept Murphy) there really were no measures we could have taken to prevent it."

Felix said at the time he was most concerned with the fact that Murphy was only being monitored with an electronic bracelet.

"He could have cut his wrist band and be somewhere and doing something before anyone even found him," he said. "I think our fears were legitimized."

Murphy, 50, pleaded guilty in 1994 to making terroristic threats to Ramsey County judges, prosecutors and a witness in his 1988 trial on charges of tax evasion. Victims reported their tires slashed, dead animals left on doorsteps and spray-painted threats on their homes.

He was then sentenced to eight years in prison and was released in September to begin serving 37 1/2 years of probation.

He was forbidden by a judge's order from living within 150 miles of the Twin Cities, where his victims reside. And what is why Bemidji was originally chosen as the site for him to live.

"He essentially eliminated much of the state ... but northwestern Minnesota," Felix said in September about the judge's order.

Murphy was then moved to Florida, where he was staying with a relative and was supervised by the Florida Department of Corrections.

The relative later reneged on the deal because of the burden of the situation, and so the original probation stipulations were amended so that Murphy could live in Minneapolis halfway house. But he was still collared with his tracking device, and he was restricted to movement within a few blocks of his new home.

"We do recognize that when people serve their time in prison they are released," Faver said. "But my problem with Mr. Murphy was that he wasn't from our community. He had no ties to our community."

The judge who sentenced Murphy on Tuesday also ordered prison officials to work on placing Murphy this time while he is in prison.

(This story contains material from the Associated Press.)