Judge: It’s unnecessary to stop OAG from making extrajudicial comments

Superior Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio denied Wednesday last week Michael Barry Murphy’s motion for the court to declare that assistant attorney general Betsy Weintraub committed a prosecutorial misconduct for her alleged false, improper, and prejudicial statement in Murphy’s case.

Kim-Tenorio also denied Murphy’s request for a disciplinary investigation against Weintraub and to stop the Office of the Attorney General from making any extrajudicial comments.

The judge noted that she already dismissed the case against Murphy at the OAG’s request last Aug. 15.

Moreover, Tenorio said, she addressed the alleged prosecutorial misconduct last Aug. 29.

She also found unnecessary to issue an order enjoining the OAG and its agents, saying the OAG is aware of professional and ethical standards against extrajudicial comments.

At the Aug. 29 show-cause hearing, Kim-Tenorio sanctioned Weintraub by directing her to donate $500 to a non-profit organization for child victims of sex abuse.

In a written order about the sanction, Kim-Tenorio stated that Weintraub’s unprofessional conduct and violations of Model Rules of Professional conduct were not isolated incidents, but occurred continuously throughout litigation in the case against Murphy due to her lack of preparation and diligence.

Kim-Tenorio said the cumulative weight of the prosecutor’s conduct and violations had wide reach and affected several government agencies, the public, and, most importantly, the alleged victim and Murphy.

Last Aug 15, Kim-Tenorio granted Weintraub’s motion to drop the charges against the 54-year-old Murphy, a retired Army reservist, with the option to re-file the case in the future.

Murphy is currently out on a $50,000 bond in connection with another criminal case. In that case, he is charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree and sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree, for allegedly sexually abusing a 4-year-old girl on Aug. 6, 2016.

In the second case, the government charged the defendant with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree, and one count of indecent exposure in the first degree.

The incident allegedly happened between 1994 and 2004 when the victim was a minor. The victim is now 26 years old, according to court documents. This case is still pending in court.