FARMINGTON — A New Sharon woman who was sentenced to 364 days in jail in 2016 for violating a 2010 court order banning her from possessing animals has not served the sentence.
A Franklin County jury convicted Carol Ann Murphy, 74, on Nov. 16, 2016, of contempt of court. Justice William Stokes stayed her sentence until the Maine Supreme Judicial Court weighed in on her appeal of the conviction. She lost the appeal on July 25, 2017.
There is an arrest warrant for Murphy, according to District Attorney Andrew Robinson.
The taxes on her house have been paid through 2018, Town Clerk Pamela Griswold said Monday. However, Murphy has not been living there, she said.
Murphy was charged with contempt of court in 2014 after Maine Animal Welfare agents and state and county law enforcement seized 14 animals from her property.
A jury convicted her March 4, 2010, of two counts of animal cruelty. She was also convicted of charges related to using a stun gun on a Maine State Police trooper when he tried to arrest her on a warrant for unpaid fines Oct. 14, 2009. The following day, state agents seized about 45 animals from her residence.
Justice Michaela Murphy sentenced Murphy to four years in prison for the premeditated attack and nine months each on the cruelty to animal charges to run concurrently with the assault sentence. She was also sentenced to 30 days on a contempt of court charge for statements made in the courtroom.
Justice Murphy also issued an order banning Murphy from owning or possessing animals for life.
A jury found Murphy guilty of cruelty to animals in 2005 after animal welfare agents and law enforcement seized about 70 animals from her home a year before.
Murphy argued in court in 2016 that the first case in 2004, which ended in 2005, was void because there was no search warrant. It led to a chain of void cases, she said, that included a conviction of cruelty to animals in 2010 and a contempt of court conviction on Nov. 16.
She requested Justice Stokes read all of the court transcripts pertaining to her convictions.
Stokes spent three days reading all the testimony but said he could not see Murphy as the victim. He indicated Murphy refused to take responsibility and instead weaves the story to make herself the victim while taxing the court’s time and resources.
There were two court orders of lifetime bans prohibiting Murphy from possessing animals as part the sentences given, he said.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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