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Case against ex-legal chief to go to trial

The disgraced former commander of the Air Force Legal Operations Agency will face trial by general court-martial on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman, failure to obey a general regulation and larceny, the Air Force District of Washington announced Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of AFDW and the convening authority in the case, on Oct. 4 referred for court-martial 13 counts against Col. Michael D. Murphy, who was relieved of duty Nov. 30 when it was revealed he had been disbarred for more than 20 years.

No date has been set for Murphy’s arraignment on the charges, according to the AFDW press release. The next step will be to assign a judge to oversee the case, the release said.

Murphy could work out a deal with prosecutors and plead guilty, or he could plead not guilty and go to trial.

Murphy could face 41 years in prison if convicted and sentenced to the maximum for each count, although judges often combine punishments for separate counts, resulting in a lighter overall sentence.

The charges referred to court-martial are nine counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman; three counts of larceny greater than $500; and one count of failure to obey a lawful general regulation.

Ten of the charges relate to Murphy’s disbarment, and three relate to allegations he stole $500 or more from each of three bases.

Col. James Sinwell, Murphy’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twenty-two charges were originally filed against Murphy, but Gorenc dropped nine of them Aug. 6.

Murphy then requested Sept. 12 that his Article 32 hearing — similar to a civilian grand jury — be waived, and Gorenc granted the request Sept. 17.

Murphy was disbarred in Texas in 1984 and Louisiana in 1985.

He joined the Air Force in November 1983 after being suspended by Texas but before being disbarred by either state.

Military attorneys are required to maintain a valid law license in at least one state, territory or the District of Columbia. The charges allege that Murphy behaved in an unbecoming manner whenever he applied for or accepted a new job requiring that he be qualified as a judge advocate, as he did several times during his career. He allegedly disobeyed a lawful regulation by failing to maintain a valid legal law license.

The larceny charges against Murphy have nothing to do with the credential issue and are related to alleged incidents uncovered during the course of the investigation.