Kalispell man gets 25 years

By CHERY SABOL

The Daily Inter Lake

In February, Michael Allen Murphy led Kalispell police on a high-speed chase that injured an officer and led to customs officials briefly walking off the job in Canada.

On Monday, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Murphy, 33, apologized to District Judge Ted Lympus for his actions.

"It makes me feel like an idiot, basically. I put a lot of people's lives in danger, including mine. All my actions were based on pure selfishness, basically," Murphy said.

"I don't know why I do the things I do, but I don't want to do it anymore."

Murphy reportedly vowed that he would not be taken alive after leading police on two chases in and around Kalispell.

The incident began when officers with the Adult Probation and Parole Department went to Murphy's northwest Kalispell home to conduct a search. He was on probation for forgery.

When he saw officers approaching, he fled in a black Cadillac Escalade. Officers chased it through Kalispell and then west of town as far as Batavia before halting the pursuit because speeds reached 120 mph and heavy traffic was on the highway, according to Kalispell police Chief Frank Garner.

Murphy called a Flathead County sheriff's deputy and said he wouldn't be taken alive and wasn't going back to prison.

He was seen next by a Montana Highway Patrol officer. Another pursuit began near Whalebone Drive and looped around the Rocky Cliff and Foy's Canyon area into the Lone Pine area.

Kalispell policeman Brian Harris rolled his patrol car there, destroying it and injuring himself, Garner said. Murphy fled on foot.

Canadian officers at the Roosville border station refused to work for a short time, saying they felt threatened by the fugitive, though he had no vehicle and there was no reason to think he was bound for the border.

Murphy later was arrested in Kiwanis Park, surrounded by about 18 officers from the drug task force, Probation and Parole Department, the Sheriff's Office and the Police Department as he hid in the bushes.

On Monday, Flathead Deputy County Attorney Lori Adams recommended a 25-year sentence for Murphy. That includes 20 years for the felony charge for which he originally received a suspended sentence. She recommended concurrent five-year sentences on each of two felony endangerment charges from the pursuits.

Defense attorney Scott Carlson asked for a 15-year sentence.

But Adams said Murphy has a long criminal history that includes 12 felony convictions and more than 20 misdemeanor convictions.

"What do you think we should do with someone who just commits crimes left and right?" she asked Murphy. "Every time you come to court, you tell the judge how sorry you are and it won't happen again."

District Judge Ted Lympus imposed the sentence suggested by Adams.

"History is as good a predictor there is, generally, on what is going to happen in the future."

Lympus called Murphy's criminal behavior "egregious, to say the least. You put an officer's life at risk."

He ordered Murphy to pay more than $28,000 restitution for the patrol car and more than $1,000 in medical bills for the officer, who suffered a concussion in the rollover.

He told Murphy there is time to reform his behavior.

"There's still a lot of life left that you have. The time has long since come when you've got to make some serious decision to change your behavior."

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com.