United States v. Murphy

100 F.4th 1184

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. Patrick Dwayne MURPHY, Defendant - Appellant.

No. 22-7021

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

FILED May 7, 2024

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma (D.C. No. 6:20-CR-00078-RAW-1)

David B. Autry, Attorney at Law, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Defendant-Appellant.

Jarrod A. Leaman, Assistant United States Attorney (Linda A. Epperley, Assistant United States Attorney, Christopher J. Wilson, United States Attorney, with him on the brief), Office of the United States Attorney, Eastern District of Oklahoma, Muskogee, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before HOLMES, Chief Judge, PHILLIPS, and McHUGH, Circuit Judges.

HOLMES, Chief Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Patrick Murphy appeals his convictions for murder, murder in perpetration of kidnapping, and kidnapping resulting in death. He raises three issues on appeal. First, he argues that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions for murder in perpetration of a kidnapping and kidnapping resulting in death. Second, he maintains that the government's prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations. Third, he asks us to find that the nearly two-decade-long delay between the murder and this federal prosecution violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights.

We conclude that Mr. Murphy's first, sufficiency-of-the-evidence argument is persuasive: more specifically, we hold that even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, it does not show that Mr. Murphy held the victim for an appreciable period of time, which is a requirement under the federal kidnapping statute. However, we reject Mr. Murphy's other two arguments. Accordingly, exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm in part and reverse in part. Specifically, we reverse Mr. Murphy's kidnapping-related convictions but affirm his conviction for murder. We remand the case to the district court for resentencing.

I

A

In August 1999, Mr. Murphy had dated his then-girlfriend, Patsy Jacobs, for roughly five years.¹ Their relationship was marked by Mr. Murphy's desire to control Patsy's life.² Mr. Murphy was a jealous man, particularly when it came to Patsy's ex-partner and father of one of her children—George Jacobs. He did not hide his animosity toward George and frequently shared his suspicions that George and Patsy were still romantically involved.

On August 26, 1999, Mr. Murphy and Patsy argued and he demanded to know whether Patsy had seen George that day. Mr. Murphy's anger escalated, and he threatened to kill George and George's sons "one by one." R., Vol. III, at 97 (Trial Tr., dated Aug. 3-5, 2021).

Two days later, on August 28, 1999, Mr. Murphy went to help his cousin, Mark Taylor, move some furniture. The two spent the day together, drinking beer as they worked. Later that evening, the two met up with another cousin—Billy Jack Long—who joined them as they continued drinking. After some time, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Long got in Mr. Murphy's pickup truck and drove around before going to Mr. Murphy's trailer. Mr. Taylor eventually left the other two for the night.

After Mr. Taylor's departure, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Long drove to Katherine King's house.³ At the time, Katherine was dating George Jacobs Jr.—George's son. When Mr. Murphy and Mr. Long arrived at Katherine's home, Mr. Murphy came to the back door and asked Katherine if George Jr. was home. Katherine was worried, and with good reason; she knew that, a few weeks earlier, Mr. Murphy had threatened to kill George and his family. Katherine demanded that Mr. Murphy leave her property, or she would "call the cops." Id. at 213. Mr. Murphy and Mr. Long left, but not before Katherine's fourteen-year-old son—Kevin King—joined the two men. Kevin had "already been drinking" that evening and brought more beer with him. Id. at 362.

The new trio soon decided to seek out a game of pool. Because Kevin was underage, Mr. Murphy settled on an establishment that he believed would allow Kevin to enter: a bar in Vernon, Oklahoma.

As the three drove toward the bar, George was leaving it. He too had spent the day drinking alcohol, with a friend and relative named Mark Sumka. That evening, George and Mr. Sumka had stopped by the bar in Vernon to eat dinner and continue drinking. By the time they left, George was too drunk to drive; Mr. Sumka drove George's car while George was "passed out." Id. at 242.

As Mr. Sumka drove George's car away from the bar, with George inebriated and incapacitated alongside him, they passed by Mr. Murphy, Mr. Long, and Kevin as the trio drove toward Vernon. The two groups intersected on Vernon Road in a rural area of McIntosh County, Oklahoma. Seeing Mr. Murphy—who was also a relative of his—driving down the road, Mr. Sumka pulled over to greet him.

The two vehicles stopped on opposite sides of the road—George's car going away from the bar, Mr. Murphy's truck heading toward it. Mr. Murphy asked Mr. Sumka who was in the car with him. Mr. Sumka responded that it was George but, knowing that Mr. Murphy and George "didn't get along," he "took off" in the car down the road—with George still an unconscious passenger. Id. at 241. Mr. Murphy, Mr. Long, and Kevin turned around, chased them down in Mr. Murphy's truck, and blocked them in. By the time Mr. Sumka managed to get out of the driver's seat, Mr. Long and Kevin had already dragged George out of the car and started "beating him up." Id. at 242. Not only did George not fight back, he "was passed out" and "wasn't even awake." Id.

As Mr. Sumka started to walk towards George, Mr. Murphy told him to "stay out of it." Id. Mr. Murphy then turned around and went towards the still-prone George, while Mr. Long left George and hit Mr. Sumka in the face, knocking him to the ground. Once Mr. Sumka got back to his feet, he "took off . . . to get some help" and ran down the road away from the assault. Id. at 243.

Mr. Sumka did not go far, however; he soon returned to the scene because he "couldn't leave George." Id. When he arrived back at the vehicles, Kevin hit him in the face before Mr. Murphy intervened, instructing Kevin to leave Mr. Sumka alone. Mr. Murphy then threw a knife across the road. At that point, Mr. Sumka could see George lying in a ditch at the side of the road. Mr. Sumka went to check on him and heard George "gurgling." Id. at 245.

Before Mr. Sumka could attempt to help George, Mr. Murphy demanded that he leave with the trio; Mr. Sumka complied, getting into Mr. Murphy's truck, and Mr. Murphy drove the group back to his trailer. There, Mr. Murphy ordered everyone to change their clothing and collected their bloody garments in a bag.

A short while later, the group went to Mr. Taylor's home. In front of Mr. Sumka, Mr. Long, and Kevin, Mr. Murphy told Mr. Taylor that he "killed George Jacobs," and "cut [George's] throat, [ ] stomped his head, cut his private areas off, and shoved them in [George's] mouth." Id. at 191. While Mr. Murphy was bragging about killing George, and cutting off "[h]is dick and his balls," Mr. Taylor noticed that Mr. Sumka looked "a little beat up" and was "ghostly pale" and "frightened." Id. at 191-93.

Mr. Murphy soon drove the group to Katherine's house, where he sent Kevin inside to bring out George Jr.—Katherine's partner and George's son. Mr. Murphy explained that they would do the "same thing" to George Jr. that they had done to his father. Id. at 250. Kevin went inside and woke up George Jr., but Katherine intervened before he could convince George Jr. to go outside. Once again, Katherine warned Mr. Murphy to leave her property before she called the police; he drove away with Mr. Sumka and Mr. Long, leaving Kevin behind. Mr. Murphy then dropped off Mr. Long at Mr. Long's girlfriend's home.

Now with only Mr. Sumka as his passenger, Mr. Murphy continued to his mother's house, where Patsy was staying. There, he got Patsy out of bed and told her that "he killed George Jacobs, and that he sliced his throat, cut him in the stomach, and cut his nuts and dick off." Id. at 98. Mr. Murphy ended his boast by telling Patsy that George "won't fuck anyone anymore, not even you." Id. He then asked her if she would wash some bloody clothes for him. When she refused, he took a lighter and went outside. Patsy soon saw flames in a nearby ditch where Mr. Murphy and his family members tossed their garbage: Mr. Sumka had helped Mr. Murphy to cut and then burn the bloody clothes in the ditch.

Mr. Murphy's actions quickly came to the attention of law enforcement officials. Early in the morning on August 29, 1999—a few hours after the attack—Agent John Jones of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation ("OSBI") responded to a reported murder scene on Vernon Road. Upon his arrival, he found George's body lying alongside the roadway, near a ditch. George's pants and underwear had been pulled down around his knees. His car was parked on the road and his wallet, which allowed Agent Jones to identify him, was "directly in front of the vehicle." Id. at 134.

The severity of George's wounds was immediately apparent. He had deep cuts across his neck and his torso, and "[h]is penis and testicles had been removed." Id. at 136. Also, George's upper buttocks and lower back showed marks consistent with having been dragged across the gravel road.

After inspecting the crime scene, Agent Jones interviewed several witnesses and identified Mr. Murphy as a suspect. That same day, law enforcement officers brought Mr. Murphy to the local police station, where Agent Jones and another OSBI agent interviewed him about George's death. Though Mr. Murphy initially denied having seen George in three to four months, he eventually admitted to pulling in front of and blocking George's car, but claimed that Mr. Long and Kevin dragged George out onto the road. As the interview progressed, he told the agents that he kicked George in the testicles, kicked...