A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors deadlocked on whether a former worker at New Hampshire's youth detention center raped a 14-year-old boy in…
Jurors were unable to reach a verdict in the trial of Stephen Murphy, 55, of Danvers, Massachusetts, marking the second mistrial connected to abuse allegations at state-run youth facilitiesA judge declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors deadlocked on whether a former worker at New Hampshire's youth detention center raped a 14-year-old boy in 1998, but the defendant still faces 15 other charges in separate cases.
No decision on whether to retry the case has been made, said Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the office. It was the arrest of Murphy and another former youth counselor in 2019 that thrust allegations of widespread abuse at the facility, now called the Sununu Youth Services Center, into public view.During his three-day trial, jurors heard from Michael Gilpatrick, who previously had testified about the allegations at both Asbury’s criminal trial and at a civil trial involving another former youth center resident.
“When he changes everything that he says happened before and after and even during the alleged assault, he has forfeited the privilege of having you believe him,” Keefe told jurors. Assistant Attorney General Audriana Mekula countered that Gilpatrick came forward “not for money that he doesn’t need or attention that he doesn’t want” but because it was the right thing to do, even if it meant hours talking about sexual assault in a courtroom packed with Murphy’s friends and relatives.
Concurrent with Murphy’s arrest, the attorney general’s office launched a broad investigation into the facility. A total of 11 men have been arrested, though charges against one were dropped due to a lack of evidence, another was found incompetent to stand trial and a third died awaiting trial. Murphy was the fourth to go to trial.
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