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Murphy v. State

The jury could have construed the trial court's comments about an officer as bolstering the officer's testimony.

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Appellant Timothy Murphy was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, and cruelty to children arising out the death of 15-month-old Tytanna Jackson on September 19, 1998.1 Murphy appeals the denial of his motion for new trial alleging that the trial court committed plain error by making a number of improper statements during the course of the trial and by failing to sever his trial from that of his co-defendant. Because the trial court’s favorable comments regarding one of the State’s witnesses could have been construed by the jury as bolstering that witnesses’ testimony, we must reverse and remand for a new trial.2 Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the jury was entitled to find that in the early morning hours of September 19, 1998, emergency medical personnel were dispatched to the home of Carmen Jackson, where Timothy Murphy lived with Jackson and her two children. When responders arrived, they found Jackson’s 15-month-old daughter, Tytanna, not breathing and without a pulse. She was cold to the touch and had fixed and dilated pupils. Though emergency responders and emergency room doctors tried to revive the child, she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Murphy and his co-defendant, Jackson, testified that Murphy had been babysitting Tytanna that day while Jackson was at work. When Jackson arrived home around 8:30 p.m., she checked on Tytanna, who was sleeping and seemed to be fine. Around midnight, Murphy heard the child whining and found her limp and struggling to breathe. The pair testified that Murphy instructed Jackson to call 911 while he administered CPR.

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