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August 11, 2001 By Aspen C. Emmett Shaun Murphy, accused of slaying a Cortez boy, may face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted on the newly-filed charge of Class 1 felony first-degree murder pursuant to a robbery. According to the Montezuma County Court, the district attorney’s office added the charge late Friday afternoon and consequently changed the face of the case. The second-degree murder charge filed July 9 remains in place; however, a preliminary hearing set for Monday afternoon has been continued as to allow both charges to be dealt with during one preliminary hearing. A new preliminary hearing date will be set on Monday, as District Attorney Joe Olt was out of town and not available to coordinate a court date, the court stated. Murphy, 18, of Farmington, was arrested July 4 and is being held on a $500,000 bond in Montezuma County Jail. The victim, Fred Martinez Jr., was found dead near the sewer ponds on the south end of Cortez on June 21. According to an autopsy report, Martinez suffered from blunt trauma to the head and exposure. He is believed to have died the night of June 16. Martinez was openly gay or transgendered. Murphy reportedly bragged after the night of June 16 that he had beaten up a homosexual. Also filed in Montezuma County Court Friday was a motion by Murphy’s defense attorney, Pamela Brown, of the public defender’s office. The motion requested that the district attorney’s office be taken off of the case because Olt represented Murphy in a municipal case in front of Magistrate Tim Tuthill three years ago. The request was denied, however, because, currently there was "insufficient evidence to show there was bias, partiality or an appearance of impropriety by the DA’s office," the court stated. Although Olt was present during Murphy’s arraignment hearing on July 9, he did not advise the defense of any possible conflict of interest. Olt was unavailable Friday afternoon for comment. |
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