Crown seeks 10 years for disgraced firefighter
Daniel Andrew Murphy, 39, went on bizarre rampage from Fredericton to Salisbury, carjacking one person and trying to carjack another in chaotic crime spree Nov. 2
Is Daniel Andrew Murphy someone who needs to be locked up for a decade to denounce how he terrorized people by carjacking them last fall, or is he a broken man in need of help due to trauma he witnessed as a Fredericton firefighter?
A court heard Friday he may be both.
Murphy, 39, formerly of Trailside Lane in Fredericton, appeared by video conference from jail in Fredericton provincial court Friday for a sentencing hearing for a long list of crimes.
He’d previously pleaded guilty to 11 offences, most of which stemmed from a violent and bizarre series of events that started in Fredericton and ended in Salisbury on Nov. 2.
Crown prosecutor Gwynne Hearn said Murphy’s crimes on that date started early in the morning, shortly after 7:30 a.m., when he jumped out in traffic in Fredericton in front of a ServiceMaster van being driven by Kevin Campbell.
After he stopped the van, court heard, Murphy got in the vehicle on the passenger side, brandishing some kind of metal object in his right hand as a weapon.
Campbell later told police the assailant ordered him to get out of the van and said, “Leave your wallet and cigarettes in the van or I’ll fucking kill you.”
The carjacking was immediately reported to police, Hearn said, but the van was driving so erratically and dangerously around Fredericton, the force received numerous calls and complaints.
Fortunately, the prosecutor said, ServiceMaster was able to track the GPS in the van and was keeping police updated on its location, tracking it from Fredericton down Route 10 toward Minto.
One police officer - Cpl. Chris Furlotte - found the van on Industrial park Road in Minto, Hearn said, but it appeared to be unoccupied.
A silver car was nearby, she said, and the officer believed the carjacker was trying to secure a new ride, and sure enough, he found Murphy by the car.
“He drew his service pistol and told the suspect he was under arrest,” the prosecutor said, but Murphy said, “Oh fuck off,” and continued to approach him, wielding a tire punch.
The offender ended up jumping back into the van and driving off back down Route 10, she said.
Two more robberies
Murphy then stopped at Route 10 Gas and Convenience, Hearn said, where he brandished a metal object as a weapon and robbed the business, stealing a bottle of Coca-Cola, three fireworks, a bottle of motor oil, a pack of smokes and some lighters.
The prosecutor said he continued to make his way along Route 10, and it was in the Noonan area along Route 10 that he tried to carjack another motorist.
She said Holly Girouard reported that the van came barrelling straight at her car, forcing her into the ditch.
“He was at her window, yelling at her to get out,” Hearn said, noting that Girouard had locked her doors.
Murphy continued his frantic flight in the stolen van, court heard, leading police on a chase that stretched all the way to Salisbury, about 150 kilometres away.
It was in that area that police successfully deployed a spike belt to deflate the van’s tires, Hearn said, and the vehicle came to a stop about two miles from where the tires were flattened.
When Constable Ore Rodriguez approached to arrest Murphy, the prosecutor said, he was non-compliant, and she had to use her Taser to take him to the ground.
The offender was also before the court Friday for sentencing on a couple of earlier crimes, committed Oct. 7, 2022.
Hearn said Murphy stole a pack of cigarettes from the Petro-Canada station on Royal Road at about 9:04 a.m. that morning, and immediately afterward, got into a skirmish with Brandon Peterson nearby on Hawkins Street, assaulting him.
Radically different sentencing recommendations
The prosecutor said Murphy’s volatile and violent behaviour in three robberies - the two carjackings and the gas station holdup - has left the victims with emotional trauma, and his conduct has to be denounced in the strongest way by the court.
She recommended a total prison term of 10 years, less credit for time Murphy has spent on remand.
Hearn noted the offences required a 10-year firearms prohibition and an order for a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database, and she asked the court to impose a non-communication order with the victims while Murphy is subject to the sentence.
Defence lawyer L.A. Henry argued for a significantly lower prison term, just three years, less credit for remand time.
Murphy was in the throes of a breakdown driven by addiction and mental illness on Nov. 2, she said, and the court should consider it a single criminal offence, from start to finish, and impose concurrent terms of incarceration.
The day before the spree, the defence lawyer said, her client was supposed to be receiving a dosage of suboxone for treatment of his drug addiction, but it got delayed from a morning appointment to the afternoon. Unfortunately, she said, his state of mind declined and didn’t return for the dose.
“There was a mental-health crisis going on the day the incident went down,” Henry said.
Murphy’s breakdown was the thread running through all of his crimes that day, she said, arguing it should be treated as one ongoing event for the purposes of sentencing.
The defence lawyer also argued that the step principle in sentencing directs courts not to jump up penalties for subsequent crimes too much as compared to past sentences.
Murphy’s criminal record shows he’s only received conditional sentences and probation in the past, she said, so the court shouldn’t impose as lengthy a prison term as what the Crown had proposed.
Working on recovery
The offender’s pre-sentence report shows he’s remorseful for his actions, Henry said.
It also demonstrated that Murphy has suffered from a serious drug addiction for the past 10 years, she said, and that he’d been actively seeking treatment for it at the River Stone Recovery Centre with Dr. Sara Davidson right up until the Nov. 2 spree.
The defence lawyer said her client has been participating in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over the past several months during his time on remand as well.
Murphy was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2019 as a result of horrors he witnessed over the course of more than 13 years in his former job as a firefighter for the City of Fredericton, Henry said.
“I realize that might be quite low,” she said, referring to her three-year recommendation, but she argued it as in the best interest of her client and of justice that “he not be given too onerous a sentence.”
Murphy has strong family support, Henry said, noting his parents and brother were present in court Friday. She added Murphy has a young son who’s suffering due to the absence of his father as well.
“I lost touch with reality, your honour,” Murphy told Judge Scott Brittain on Friday.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about that day … I worked to protect people, not to hurt them.”
While he didn’t harm anyone physically, he said, he knows he inflicted emotional and psychological harm, and he apologized for that.
Murphy said he’s focused on recovering from his addiction and on getting better mentally as well.
“I’m working extremely hard,” he said, noting his goal is ultimately to help others with mental illness.
Brittain said given the material presented Friday, the cases cited and the differences between the Crown and defence recommendations, he needed time to consider the various factors.
He reserved his decision on sentence to Nov. 27 and remanded Murphy again until that time.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.