Gary Murphy Case: Case File Release — San Francisco Cold Case Ep 5

In this San Francisco investigative podcast, true crime podcast host Spencer reviews his win of a public records battle that he has fought for five years. After several attorneys turned him down to represent him vs. San Francisco Police, the police legal division voluntarily released the case file on the 1998 uncharged murder case. The file does not hold back. It names the killers involved in the conspiracy and details how prosecutors at least twice declined to charge anyone connected to the broad daylight shooting of the 41-year-old biker. It's not su much a San Francisco cold case as a case of police neglect. 

The case file confirms his initial theory: his former client hired the killers as she was losing a custody battle to Murphy for her then 6-year-old granddaughter. 

Did sloppiness of the orgininal detectives doom a prosecution? Possibly. Spencer finds the file to be unorganized despite containing some strong evidence in the forms of ballistics and from witnesses. The case file details that the Murphy suspects were also tied to a notorious home invasion and sexual assault of a pregnant mother that occurred a week after Murphy's murder.

Another detective took up the case in 2012 and within two months had prepared an arrest affidavit for suspects. The case bounces around among prosecutors but ultimately the District Attorney opted not to charge despite considerable corroboration of details in the conspiracy.