Attorney seeks leniency for area man
The attorney for a former Fayette County man who pleaded guilty to federal possession of child pornography charges said his client should not face longer than the 10-year mandatory prison term. In paperwork filed Wednesday, attorney Michael Healey also asked the judge who will sentence Timothy Murphy next month to run the federal sentence concurrently to sentences Murphy is now serving for cases in Fayette and Westmoreland counties.
Murphy, 26, of Youngwood, was on parole for sexually assaulting a child in Fayette County when probation officers found 1,000 pornographic images of children – some as young as 3 – in his possession in 2007.
Murphy’s parole was revoked, and the federal charges were filed. Murphy pleaded guilty to those in April, and in the interim was sentenced to serve a maximum of 32 years in Westmoreland County for sexual-related charges stemming from his interaction with children.
Between the Fayette and Westmoreland sentence, Healey said Murphy will serve a total of 8 years, 4 months to 36 years, 6 months in prison.
With that length of time, Healey asked Chief U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster to let Murphy serve his federal sentence at the same time.
Healey also argued that Murphy should not be subject to any sentencing enhancements because many of the criteria that allow a judge to add time onto a sentence are part of the core allegations.
A pre-sentence report found that some of the picture showed “sadistic or masochistic conduct, or depictions of violence,” Healey wrote. Those pictures were of adults having sexual contact with minors, and part of the core offense, Healey argued.
The attorney also noted that Lancaster should not enhance the sentence for using a computer or for the number of images that were downloaded.
“Again, this + fails to take into account that computers and downloading are part of the core of the offense. Moreover, given the nature of computers, hundreds of images can be downloaded in a very short time with a few clicks,” Healey wrote.
Murphy will be sentenced before Chief U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster on Aug. 27.