1
00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,120
It's something
that I've never intended to do,
2
00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:20,800
I wish I didn't do.
3
00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,520
If there was anything I could do
to change it, I would.
4
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:30,880
But there's obviously not.
5
00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,840
I was kind of happy to be on death row.
6
00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,640
Because I was treated better
than I was at home.
7
00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,880
But I wish it wouldn't have took a victim
to get me sent there.
8
00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,720
I pray to her every day
9
00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,720
and ask God to watch over her soul
and to take care of her.
10
00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:33,080
And I know that she's watching over
and seeing me as well.
11
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:43,400
This is a true story.
12
00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:47,160
I'll start it off like that.
13
00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,480
I just wanted to rebel.
I wanted to cause chaos.
14
00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,240
I looked over at him.
"We'll see who kills who, huh?"
15
00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:54,680
I made the choice.
16
00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:56,720
I took his life.
17
00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,360
It's something
that I've never intended to do,
18
00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:02,640
I wish I didn't do.
19
00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,680
I knew I was gonna get out
of that car and murder those two men.
20
00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,480
As he kneeled in front of me,
all I remember is pulling the trigger.
21
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,280
I'd killed them both.
22
00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:20,840
I'd stabbed them to death.
23
00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,400
Hi, Joe. Do you think
you could just drop this down your shirt?
24
00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:05,600
Just this front shirt.
25
00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:23,720
My name is Joseph Murphy.
26
00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,560
Number 199042.
27
00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,400
I am incarcerated
in Ohio correctional facility.
28
00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:46,280
Our home in Clay County, West Virginia,
was a tar-paper shack.
29
00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,480
All it was was tar paper
wrapped around two-by-fours.
30
00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:51,040
And that's where we lived at.
31
00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:57,600
We had three rooms, which was
a living room, kitchen and one bedroom
32
00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:58,920
for a family of eight.
33
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,880
My mother, she come from a family
of 17 siblings
34
00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,920
and she wanted out of the house
that she was in,
35
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,320
so she got pregnant at an early age
36
00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,040
and married my father, Jerry Murphy.
37
00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,160
And they just kept having kids.
38
00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,600
They never had no income or no plans.
39
00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,120
We had no water, no electricity.
No gas, no phone.
40
00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:34,640
We would get water from the creek.
41
00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:37,560
And to use the bathroom,
42
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:43,560
we would urinate and drop feces
in gallon jugs
43
00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:45,480
or gallon cans
44
00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,160
and they would be laid
throughout the home.
45
00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:53,960
The sort of person my father was
46
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,800
was, if I didn't see him drunk...
47
00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,480
if I'd ever seen him sober, I would think
something was wrong with him,
48
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,840
because I've always known him to be
under the influence of alcohol
49
00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,880
and he was abusive when he was drunk.
50
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:08,960
He didn't care.
51
00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,360
My parents always said I was retarded,
but I didn't know what it meant.
52
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:25,720
I just thought that it was
something to do with the way I was.
53
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,800
My mother was receiving
a social security check
54
00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:31,880
for mental retardation.
55
00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,800
I was never allowed to play
with the other siblings.
56
00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,160
My mother told them that I was sick
57
00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,800
and, if they played with me or talked
to me, they would end up sick too.
58
00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,560
So she wouldn't let them talk to me
or play with me,
59
00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:47,480
so I was always alone.
60
00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:52,120
But sometimes, my sister would...
61
00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:55,600
steal a can of apple sauce
from the kitchen
62
00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,760
and take it up on the hill and bust it
open on a rock and feed it to me,
63
00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:02,120
just because my mother wouldn't feed me.
64
00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:08,000
She would always try to make sure that
I didn't die of starvation or something.
65
00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,680
The place where I would normally sleep
was at the foot of my mother's bed
66
00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:17,560
and tied down to the bed.
67
00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,240
I always thought that that was normal.
68
00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:26,400
At one point, my social worker
bought me a bunch of clothes.
69
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,280
And she bought a big trunk
to keep them in.
70
00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:33,120
And we went home
and my mother did what she always does.
71
00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,800
She got everything
and gave it away to the other kids
72
00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:37,880
so they would look nice going to school.
73
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,440
And she put the trunk
at the foot of her bed and put me in it.
74
00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,360
That way, she knew I couldn't get out
at night time
75
00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:48,960
and run around or do anything.
76
00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:51,040
Little did she know,
77
00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:53,720
that was more comfortable
than sleeping on the floor.
78
00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:08,000
My social worker would come
to the house regularly
79
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:09,680
to make sure that I was okay.
80
00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:12,720
And, one day, my mom beat me really bad
81
00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:17,040
and I had blood marks on my back
and my back of my legs
82
00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,040
and she told my father, she said,
"You have to fix this,
83
00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,840
'cause she's gonna be here tomorrow,
she's gonna see it
84
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,400
and she's gonna take Joey away
and we won't get his check this month."
85
00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,600
So my dad said he would take care of it
and he took me out back.
86
00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,120
And he tied me down
to a set of box springs.
87
00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,000
And after he'd had me tied down,
88
00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,680
he put gasoline on my back
and set me on fire.
89
00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,600
And I was screaming bloody murder,
because it burnt so bad.
90
00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,440
Growing up,
I was in 17 different institutions
91
00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,080
in four different states.
92
00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:31,040
I was sexually abused whenever I went
to the institutions that I was in.
93
00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:37,160
I thought it was something
that everyone deals with and puts up with.
94
00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,360
I was happy to be in the institutions
that I was in,
95
00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,960
because they fed me, they clothed me
96
00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,600
and I wasn't getting beat every day
and I was able to eat.
97
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:53,680
They would have me stay there for a while.
98
00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:58,320
And the judge would release me
back to my mother and father.
99
00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,880
My family would never keep in contact
with me in any of the facilities I was in.
100
00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,480
And they moved without telling me
that they had ever moved.
101
00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:49,600
When we moved to Marion, Ohio...
102
00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,040
our house had a bathroom in it
for the very first time.
103
00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,720
It was a nice city.
104
00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,600
And a lot of times, at night time,
I would just walk the streets
105
00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,200
just to get a peace of mind,
to escape the abuse.
106
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,560
One time, my mother said
that she was going to whup me
107
00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:19,200
and I accidentally set a stack of clothes
on fire.
108
00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,040
And it set the kitchen on fire,
109
00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,680
which engulfed
and caught the wall on fire.
110
00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,800
And here comes a bunch of fire trucks
and police.
111
00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,840
The sirens was going
and the lights was flashing.
112
00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:38,560
We had to go stay somewhere else
113
00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,560
and I realized that my mother
had forgot to beat me.
114
00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,480
So I learned from an early age,
if I set a fire,
115
00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:48,520
I'm not gonna get beat.
116
00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:57,280
After that, I believe
I was sent to a institution
117
00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:01,800
and they was running tests on me
and said that I was a pyromaniac.
118
00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:04,320
But that wasn't the case at all.
119
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,720
No one really knew
why I always set the fires.
120
00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:48,760
My brother-in-law told me,
121
00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,560
if we can get her
to the Columbus Hospital,
122
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,960
then she could make it,
'cause they would take better care of her.
123
00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:00,800
So he said that we needed to go somewhere
and do a crash and grab.
124
00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,240
Just grab something and then run out.
125
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:09,080
And he came up with the, um, item
as being a VCR.
126
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:13,000
And I told him, I said, "I know someone
that has one. I believe she has one."
127
00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,760
And he said, "Who?"
And I said, "Ruth Predmore."
128
00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,200
The lady that
we had done odd jobs for before.
129
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,080
So we went down to the house.
130
00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,000
And he was trying the back door
and I was trying the front door.
131
00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:38,520
I was thinking, "If she's in there,
she's gonna hear us.
132
00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:39,960
She might call the police."
133
00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,720
So I took a knife out of my pocket
134
00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,280
and went beside the house
to cut the phone line.
135
00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:53,240
But when I went back onto the porch,
to the door,
136
00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,680
Ruth Predmore was there and she said,
"What are you doing? Get away from here!"
137
00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,920
And it startled me and I was scared,
so I just swung the knife and I ran.
138
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,840
About two hours later,
I went back to the house.
139
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:18,920
And I was walking...
140
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,520
really slow and scared,
not knowing what to expect.
141
00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,400
And when I went to the front door,
I opened it real slow
142
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,520
and I could see her body
was laying on the floor.
143
00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:33,280
I was scared.
144
00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:39,440
But I still was in need
of helping my sister,
145
00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:42,360
so that's why I proceeded
to go through the house
146
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,800
and get what I thought was of value
and then exit out the back door.
147
00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:26,320
Miss Predmore should have never died
at my hands.
148
00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,280
She was a very sweet, caring,
generous, giving person
149
00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,480
and I'm very remorseful
for what I had done.
150
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,760
And it should have never happened.
151
00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:50,720
During the trial, we had caseworkers
and social workers come to trial
152
00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:52,040
to give testimony.
153
00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:57,120
And that's when I realized that, "Okay,
what I went through, that's not normal.
154
00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,200
It's not right and...
155
00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:02,440
now I'm gonna be sentenced to death,
156
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,200
not even knowing
what a real family is like."
157
00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,040
They call it "The Little Chicago,"
158
00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:41,720
because Chicago is full of drugs
and gangs and stuff.
159
00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:42,800
Now, Marion...
160
00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:44,880
it's ended up that way, too.
161
00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,640
This is the bar
I got my teeth knocked out at.
162
00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:04,720
And Miss Predmore, the lady he killed,
lived right here.
163
00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:07,720
The little house right there.
164
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,320
I'm Michael Murphy.
I'm Joey Murphy's brother.
165
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:26,760
I'm... I'm the youngest
out of the six kids.
166
00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,720
When we moved from West Virginia
to Marion, we... we changed worlds.
167
00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:37,040
Down in West Virginia,
you had a bunch of hillbillies.
168
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:41,080
Up here, you had a bunch
of different types of people.
169
00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,160
People you don't run into
in West Virginia.
170
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:47,960
And everybody always picked on us
because we had a hillbilly accent
171
00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:52,240
or we never had no good shoes,
no good clothes, no nothing.
172
00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:56,560
My dad was an alcoholic.
173
00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,320
When he couldn't get no alcohol,
he would literally go to the bathroom
174
00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:04,200
and get a bottle of rubbing alcohol
and take a couple swigs of it
175
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,080
and get sick, but keep drinking it.
176
00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:14,000
We could spend $100 for a microwave
and, the next day, it would be missing
177
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:16,160
for a $2 bottle of wine.
178
00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:24,560
Joey was a troubled kid, really. I mean...
179
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:26,640
he would get in trouble.
180
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:29,040
Stealing or whatever.
181
00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,440
And he'd get sent away.
Six months at a time, a year at a time.
182
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:36,400
I just wanted him to stay home,
but he never did.
183
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,520
He would catch a fire or...
184
00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:41,880
He killed a dog.
185
00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,320
He killed my dog, Snoopy,
when we lived in West Virginia.
186
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,200
Um... Threw it out in front of a truck.
187
00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,320
Another time,
I walked up on the mountain
188
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,640
and he had another dog
sitting there hanging.
189
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,440
And he'd get whippings for it.
190
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,200
And that didn't do nothing to Joey.
He didn't cry.
191
00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:00,760
He'd look at her and say,
"I'm still gonna do it."
192
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,200
There were multiple fires
going on in Marion.
193
00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,920
A whole bunch of just buildings getting...
burnt down.
194
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,520
And it was all over the newspapers
about an arsonist being in Marion
195
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:21,320
and it turned out it was him.
196
00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,120
From what was told to me, it was...
197
00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:27,040
I liked candy when I was a kid.
198
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:29,440
He liked fire.
199
00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,760
Joey asked me, "If you was gonna try
to rob somebody, what would you do?"
200
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:44,720
I said, "I wouldn't do it.
I'd put a note on their door saying,
201
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,280
'Give me all your money
and leave it in a brown paper bag.'"
202
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,720
That's what he did.
He left her a note saying,
203
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,520
"Leave all your money.
Leave it in a brown paper bag."
204
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,480
And she didn't,
and then he went in and killed her.
205
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,920
I can't see an action of surprise
206
00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:07,000
to slice somebody's throat.
207
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:10,480
And the lady was nice to me.
208
00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:13,600
I would go down and mow her yard
every week,
209
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:15,240
shovel her sidewalk every week.
210
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:19,000
She'd pay me, I'd walk her groceries
back from the store. She...
211
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:21,480
You know,
she's like a grandma to me and...
212
00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:25,200
when that happened, I was just...
I didn't know how to act.
213
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,000
You know, I loved the woman
and my brother did it.
214
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:29,760
So...
215
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,240
it's kind of hard...
216
00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:38,480
...to deal with your brother and somebody
you considered like a grandma.
217
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,080
My name's Wayne Creasap.
218
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,360
I'm a retired police officer
for the City of Marion.
219
00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,880
Once we determined
what was taken from the residence...
220
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,920
and, uh, then canvassing
the neighborhood...
221
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:26,120
the name came up real quick.
222
00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:30,280
Joe Murphy was very well known
223
00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:33,040
to the law enforcement community
in Marion County.
224
00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:38,640
A lot of the officers, uh,
referred to Joe Murphy as "Pyro Joe".
225
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,000
In his younger days,
he liked to play with fire.
226
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,080
He was known
to set small animals on fire.
227
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:48,560
A small-time thief.
228
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:51,120
Just liked to get in trouble.
229
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:59,840
Joseph Murphy resided
just a few houses down from Mrs. Predmore
230
00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:05,320
and it was determined that
he had written a note to Mrs. Predmore
231
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:07,720
the day before her body was discovered.
232
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,280
And, uh, the note basically said,
233
00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:17,200
"You are to leave your money out
or I will kill you."
234
00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:28,440
When the money wasn't put out there,
then he followed through with his threat.
235
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:42,480
It's been a long time
since I've seen these.
236
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,640
I still see her, uh...
237
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:48,800
lying there on the floor like that, uh...
238
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:50,400
in my mind.
239
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:52,600
It sticks there like a photograph forever.
240
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,920
This was a very, very horrific crime.
241
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:04,360
I don't feel that it was a case
where he accidentally tried to harm her...
242
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:06,760
in an act of surprise.
243
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,840
Uh, it's apparent
that he stood behind her.
244
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,440
The cut on her throat was so deep
245
00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:17,400
it darn near took her head off.
246
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,080
It was just hanging on by a thread.
247
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,640
So, you know, there was a lot of force.
248
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,520
You know, standing behind someone
and pulling that knife in
249
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,920
and spinning her around
and cutting her throat.
250
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,640
I can't say I had any sympathy for Joe.
251
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,160
People had tried to work with him
over the years,
252
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,240
through children's services,
trying to get him turned around,
253
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,880
trying to get him away from doing,
you know, criminal activity,
254
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,240
trying to help him,
trying to help the family.
255
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,560
You can only be helped
if you want to be helped.
256
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:56,280
My name is Linda Richter
257
00:23:56,360 --> 00:24:00,880
and I am a mitigation specialist
here in the state of Ohio.
258
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,760
My job is explaining
how someone's background
259
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,760
can mitigate against a horrible crime.
260
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:13,280
Uh, to let the jury see that these people
have been victimized themselves
261
00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,600
long before they victimized anyone else.
262
00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:23,720
I think that Joey's was probably
one of the most impoverished
263
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:28,880
and emotionally-sterile backgrounds
I had come across.
264
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,680
The cleanliness of the house was awful.
265
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,200
Roaches, animals.
266
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:36,440
Animal feces.
267
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:37,920
It smelled.
268
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,160
This was all in Marion. I mean, this was
a step up from where they had come.
269
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:46,480
Um, because we knew this family
had been rooted
270
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,480
historically in south central
West Virginia
271
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,360
with a very high poverty level.
272
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,320
And we took these pictures
because I wanted people to understand
273
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,880
that this really was
no more than a tar-paper shack.
274
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:04,400
I mean, we're talking a poverty
275
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,880
that I had never experienced or seen
in my lifetime.
276
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,600
The psychologists that worked with us
on this case
277
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,920
thought that, because of the amount
of rage that Joey was exhibiting
278
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,040
in setting fires and killing animals,
279
00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:26,080
that he most likely
had been sexually abused.
280
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:30,680
And that was the fuel
for a lot of the rage that spills out
281
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,240
in these kind of impulsive,
not well-thought-out murders.
282
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,560
I was devastated
when the jury returned a death verdict.
283
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,720
I just did not feel
that Joey was the worst of the worst.
284
00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,320
I thought Joey needed to be in prison.
285
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,320
But I did not see that taking Joey's life
286
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,160
was doing anything
but victimizing him one more time.
287
00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:08,880
Even though he committed
a horrendous crime.
288
00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,240
The first time
I remember being sexually abused,
289
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,280
it was a black man in Clay County.
290
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,800
He made alcohol for the residents around.
291
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:29,440
He was called a moonshiner.
292
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,600
And my dad loved going there,
getting drunk,
293
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,080
and, one day, he took me with him.
294
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:42,120
And we went to a bus
that was abandoned beside the road,
295
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,200
and that's where, um, Al lived at,
who made the moonshine.
296
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,480
And my dad took me in the bus
and said he wanted some alcohol
297
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:52,640
and Al said he don't have none.
298
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,800
And my dad said,
"Well, I've got my son here
299
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,320
and you can have your way with him.
300
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,240
Just give me a jug of alcohol."
301
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:01,760
So...
302
00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:06,080
Al took me to the back of the bus
where they had a mattress
303
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:07,880
and he undressed me.
304
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,120
And I wasn't thinking anything of it
305
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,120
and then he got undressed
and laid me on the mattress
306
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:15,600
and got on top of me and...
307
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:17,560
raped me anally.
308
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:19,720
And I was screaming for my dad,
309
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:22,160
"Please help me, Dad.
He's hurting me, help me."
310
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:23,640
And he just sat in a chair,
311
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,800
drinking his alcohol
and acting like he couldn't even hear me.
312
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:27,920
And then...
313
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,640
after he grunted like a pig
and got off of me,
314
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,840
I ran out of the bus
and ran home butt naked.
315
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:36,840
And it was about a half a mile away.
316
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,520
And when I got home, I was yelling,
"Mom, help me, help me!"
317
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,760
And then, whenever I got to the house,
she come out on the porch
318
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,200
and she said, "What's wrong?"
And I said, "He hurt me, he hurt me."
319
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,680
And then Mom took me in the house
and whupped me,
320
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,240
because she thought I was playing
in the creek and took my clothes off
321
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,680
and got cut by glass that was in the creek
322
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,040
and that's why I had blood on my buttocks
and the back of my legs.
323
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,560
At this time when this happened,
I was six years old.
324
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:16,840
I've heard that story before.
325
00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:20,960
And it just makes me as sad
as it did the first time.
326
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:23,480
I can't imagine...
327
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:25,920
feeling...
328
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,880
so betrayed and so helpless
by the one person in your life
329
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,600
who's supposed to be there to protect you
and love you and keep you safe.
330
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:36,080
Um...
331
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:39,280
All for some moonshine.
332
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,720
I mean, when you're traumatized like that
as a child...
333
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:47,480
your sense of safety,
334
00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:52,120
your sense of security,
your sense of any humanity...
335
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:53,920
is shattered.
336
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:56,520
I don't know how anyone...
337
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,880
at that young age
goes through that kind of a...
338
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,520
violent act perpetrated on them...
339
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:07,960
and then relates to the world normally.
340
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:10,880
Because now
the world isn't normal anymore.
341
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,760
It's a hostile and mean and scary place.
342
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:47,880
I'm Kathryn Sandford.
343
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:49,640
I am a public defender
344
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:51,600
in the death penalty department
345
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,680
and I do capital appeals for my clients.
346
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,440
These are five boxes of, I think,
15 probably that we have.
347
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,560
This is just for Joey.
348
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,000
I had not read or seen
a background as horrible as his.
349
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,520
All that he went through and...
350
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,280
just what a horrible situation it was.
351
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,400
There was no doubt
that Joey had committed the murder.
352
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,440
So we were not trying
to get him a new trial.
353
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:35,600
We were trying to get him a new sentence.
354
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,000
I do believe
that someone with that background
355
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:41,960
cannot be judged at the same standard
356
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:44,080
as someone
who does not have that background,
357
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,200
that there is a difference there.
358
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:08,600
We started working on his clemency case
359
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:12,200
roughly eight to ten months
prior to the execution date.
360
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:16,200
I do remember thinking that...
361
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,480
if he was executed
that I didn't know if I would be able
362
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:20,960
to continue doing this work.
363
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,600
Because I thought
there really is no justice then.
364
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,040
There's me with my glasses.
365
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,160
Buddy with his checkered pants.
366
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:57,520
Jerry is his real name.
367
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,520
Drema, Darris,
368
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:02,680
David, Mom and Joey.
369
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,480
Mom would whip you
with a belt or a switch.
370
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:14,040
Back in the seventies,
371
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,680
that's how everybody was punished,
I guess.
372
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:20,960
You've got to learn your lesson.
373
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:23,280
A lot of kids...
374
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,480
don't get punished and you can see
the big difference in the way they act
375
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,960
compared to somebody that gets punished
and the way they act.
376
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:36,560
But him, I don't know. It's...
377
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,760
It's like I remember him telling stories.
378
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,040
Majority of the time, they're not true,
379
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:46,480
but there's some truth-ness to it.
380
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,800
My dad said he'll take care of it
and he took me out back.
381
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,840
And he tied me down
to a set of box springs
382
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,400
and, after he'd had me tied down,
383
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,440
he put gasoline on my back
and set me on fire.
384
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,520
And I was screaming bloody murder
because it burnt so bad.
385
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:13,880
Now, I remember the fire on him.
386
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,280
Everybody was in the living room.
387
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:17,720
He was in the bedroom.
388
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:19,160
Nobody tied him down.
389
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:21,160
He caught himself on fire.
390
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,280
Nobody else was even in the room.
He, uh...
391
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:26,760
He scared everybody.
392
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:28,840
Mom took him to the emergency room.
393
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,360
But I recall, plain as day.
394
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:35,040
He's been saying that since the trial.
395
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,040
That was his defense...
396
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,120
to get off of death row.
397
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:46,560
My dad took me in the bus
and said he wanted some alcohol
398
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:48,800
and Al said he don't have none
399
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:54,680
and my dad said, "Well, I got my son here
and you can have your way with him.
400
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:56,440
Just give me a jug of alcohol."
401
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,680
The truth,
wasn't nothing to do with him.
402
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:08,280
My dad did take Darris to Charleston.
Not to Al's.
403
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,040
And sold him to a whorehouse.
404
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:14,560
Left him there.
405
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:15,680
Went home.
406
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:19,840
But Joey confused...
407
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:24,560
Dad trading Darris for wine or whiskey
for him.
408
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:27,000
You see what I'm saying?
He's taking two stories
409
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:30,560
and combining them together
to make it look like... him.
410
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:33,200
But Darris has...
Dad did sell him for some whiskey.
411
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:39,720
If some of this stuff was true...
412
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,440
it makes me feel even sorrier for him.
413
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,760
It saddens me. I mean, he's my brother.
I love him.
414
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:52,960
I wouldn't have been able to deal with it.
415
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:55,760
I would have ended up
hurting somebody myself.
416
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,680
My name is Michael Gelbort.
I'm a clinical neuropsychologist.
417
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,760
Joey Murphy is a case
that I became involved in
418
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,400
because his attorney, Kathy Sandford,
419
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,400
was looking for an assessment
of who this guy is, how he functions.
420
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,600
Joey will pass the test.
He can look reasonably normal.
421
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,320
But in terms of understanding nuance
or subtlety...
422
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,360
um, more complex issues...
423
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:55,000
if you took 100 people and lined them up
from smartest to least intelligent,
424
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,080
he would be way at the back of the line.
425
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,960
There were stories told, um...
426
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:02,680
about his father,
427
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:06,960
who was apparently
a very significant alcoholic...
428
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,840
um, lending Joey to other people
in exchange for alcohol.
429
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,680
Everything that Joey said
I'm not going to believe...
430
00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:17,520
hook, line and sinker.
431
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,760
On the other hand,
it was consistent enough,
432
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,080
and it also goes with his behavior
433
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,560
that I suspect, by and large,
it's... it's accurate.
434
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:30,760
And I'm pretty comfortable saying
that the history of abuse he relates
435
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:32,360
is pretty much on target.
436
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:38,680
It's actually very common
437
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:44,360
for family members to report
a different history.
438
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,720
You know, it would be one thing
if Joey's brother said,
439
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,760
"That never happened.
My father would never do such a thing.
440
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,600
That's not the kind of man he was."
441
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:57,640
But the fact that his brother says
it happened, it just wasn't to Joey,
442
00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:00,760
it's like, okay,
he's establishing that the father
443
00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:03,280
is the sort of person
who could do such a thing.
444
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:05,200
Who's to say
it didn't happen to Joey, too?
445
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,360
Who's to say
it didn't happen to Joey then?
446
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,840
But, at the very least, you know,
the brother's confirming
447
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:13,080
that, "Yes, Father would do such a thing."
448
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:20,080
It's not about whether or not
we feel sorry for the individual.
449
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:25,880
But rather that maybe he didn't have
the ability, based on his upbringing.
450
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:27,760
Maybe he didn't have the capacity
451
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:29,600
to do better than he did.
452
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,760
I'm of the opinion
we come into the world blank slates
453
00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:38,280
and the training we have
from those around us
454
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:42,200
is pretty important
in determining which way we'll go.
455
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,560
This is not a psychopath.
456
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,000
This is not someone
who is out to kill people.
457
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:55,440
This is someone who was a victim himself
in many ways.
458
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:59,080
And I know there are those who...
"You know, sure, he was a victim,
459
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:00,960
but still he shouldn't go killing."
460
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,840
It's not that his background
made him kill anyone.
461
00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:08,120
It's not that anyone
who has this background
462
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:09,800
absolutely will kill someone.
463
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:12,560
But they're eminently more likely.
464
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:16,680
They have less opportunity
to stay out of trouble
465
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,280
or to... to act
in a socially appropriate way.
466
00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:23,720
They're closer to the edge, if you will,
and some of them fall over the edge.
467
00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:27,240
He fell over the edge.
468
00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:54,400
We had all this material ready
to present at Joey's clemency hearing.
469
00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:00,640
But you never know
what the board is going to recommend.
470
00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:03,520
You never know what the governor
is going to actually do.
471
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:09,640
But some years prior,
I had read an article
472
00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:13,080
where the victim's niece said
she had never heard from Joey.
473
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:14,760
She didn't know if he was sorry.
474
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:18,680
So I thought,
"We need to reach out to her."
475
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,720
And then she and Joey ended up meeting
476
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:27,320
for offender
and, um, victim family dialogue.
477
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:33,160
If we could have a victim's family member
478
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:37,080
say that he or she did not support
execution of our client,
479
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:38,880
that would... that would be huge.
480
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,000
So the federal public defender
481
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,280
had someone go
and videotape Miss Kavanagh.
482
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,880
And we received the video
the night before the clemency hearing.
483
00:39:55,480 --> 00:40:01,080
When I first met him, I was looking to see
a hard-nosed criminal.
484
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:02,240
Mm-hm.
485
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:06,240
But then,
after learning about Joey's past life...
486
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:09,800
and how abusive it was,
487
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:16,360
I came away from there feeling
that our system has let him down terribly.
488
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:19,360
As it also let my aunt down.
489
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,160
When Miss Kavanagh first met with Joey,
490
00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:25,160
she was of the view
that he should be executed.
491
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:27,920
But during her meeting with him,
492
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:29,920
her mind changed.
493
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,480
Do you want Joey executed?
494
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:35,600
-No.
-Why not?
495
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,480
I feel that he's very...
I feel that he is remorseful.
496
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:45,920
And I do feel that he could be
of use somewhere.
497
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:53,440
And I want the board to know
how angry I am at the whole system itself.
498
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:57,160
And what it's done to my family.
499
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,960
What it's done to Joey and his family.
500
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:04,960
It wasn't just Joey being on death row
these 25 years.
501
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:08,040
I sat on death row and so did my family.
502
00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:29,480
My visit with Peg Kavanagh,
the victim's niece...
503
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,320
was very emotional.
504
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:46,760
I just started crying
and she started crying
505
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:50,520
and she said, "Honey, your parents
should be the ones locked up. Not you."
506
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,160
And then we really embraced each other
507
00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:57,800
and it was a true, honest, love,
forgiveness hug
508
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,880
and it made us both cry even more.
509
00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:03,680
And, um...
510
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:07,200
she took part in getting me
off of death row.
511
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:25,920
I was within my last 30 days of life.
512
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:30,000
So I was isolated from everyone.
513
00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:36,080
And the warden came and he said, uh...
"Murphy, we've got something for you."
514
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:37,600
I said, "Okay. What's up?"
515
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,880
He said, "The governor granted clemency."
516
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:43,480
And...
517
00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:47,960
I almost just wanted to fall down
and start crying
518
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,320
and he said,
"Murphy, I don't want no hug."
519
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:51,840
I said, "Okay."
520
00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:59,440
After that, he asked me...
do I want to call my attorney
521
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:01,080
and I said, "Yeah, I need to."
522
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:03,760
And from the sounds of it,
523
00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:07,360
there was a room full of people
at the Ohio Public Defender's office.
524
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:09,240
They was all in there celebrating.
525
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:13,520
She said, "We did it. We finally did it.
It was worth fighting for."
526
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,480
And it was as tearful for her
as it was for me,
527
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,640
because she had worked really hard
to get me off of death row.
528
00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:29,000
It was very emotional and overwhelming
that finally people care.
529
00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:50,160
A lot of times, I would walk
on the walkways in the prison yard
530
00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:53,000
and just look at the sky
and walk through the grass
531
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:56,600
and give thanks to God that I'm there
and that I'm alive and...
532
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,160
somehow is there a way
that I can make a difference?
533
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:04,480
Now I actually have a life.
534
00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:09,360
So, given that chance, I'm doing
everything that I can possibly do
535
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:12,200
to make that chance count for something
536
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,000
and to do something constructive
and meaningful.
537
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,960
Making friends with inmates,
understanding their problems
538
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:21,480
and trying to help them.
539
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:27,160
Hi, Duf.
540
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,040
This is the dorm cat, Duf.
541
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:36,840
Nicknamed for Andy Dufresne
from the movie Shimshom Redemption.
542
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:38,560
-And he's our dorm cat.
543
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:42,240
We rescued him when he was four days old,
almost frozen to the ground.
544
00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:45,520
And he likes to stay around the shoulders.
545
00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:51,720
A lot of people relieve stress and anger
from playing with him
546
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:53,360
and interacting with him and...
547
00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:57,560
it's just comforting to go up
and play with a cat
548
00:44:57,640 --> 00:44:58,800
or watch him outside...
549
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,640
playing around in the grass
or chasing birds.
550
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:13,080
If I was to ever leave prison,
it would be God's will
551
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:15,480
and it would be something that he wanted.
552
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:17,280
But, for myself,
553
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:21,440
I am content just living a life in prison,
554
00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:24,120
because I've adapted to prison.
555
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:28,520
I accept this punishment.
556
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,280
And I'm okay with it.