Killer Matthew Farrell found not guilty by reason of insanity

The decision came Thursday after Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins heard a series of bizarre allegations and received a sealed psychiatric report that cleared Murphy of liability under Virginia law.

“She was legally insane at the time of the offense,” Higgins said, ruling on a joint recommendation from the prosecution and defense.

Higgins took the advice of Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Holly Vradenburg to hold a rehearing in the new year to consider two additional evaluations and determine a course of treatment for Murphy, 40.

“This looks like a fair result,” David Heilberg, a longtime attorney in the Charlottesville case, told The Daily Progress. “She could be sent away for life.”

Heilberg said that while he hasn’t counted them, this is only the third such verdict he has heard of in his 45 years of practice.

“The standard of innocence by reason of insanity is extremely high,” Heilberg said. “It’s extremely rare in a homicide case.”

The case itself is undoubtedly an extreme one.

Authorities were alerted to a disturbance at Farrell’s home on Stony Point Road north of Charlottesville on the morning of Oct. 25, 2022, when Murphy made what a prosecutor called a “disturbing and largely incoherent” phone call to police.

“Her story was untrue and delusional,” said Vradenburg, who said officers found Murphy in a fetal position in the yard of Farrell’s property.

“She looked disheveled and had caked dirt on her hands,” Vradenburg said. “She cried and asked for forgiveness.”

It appeared to police that Murphy was concerned about both Farrell’s well-being and her own, suggesting that her boyfriend intended to harm her.

“I’m so afraid he’s hurt,” she allegedly told officers before leading them into the bedroom and, according to Vradenburg, “crying hysterically and laying on the bedroom floor.”

Officers pulled back the covers to find 53-year-old Farrell lying on his side in a pool of his own blood.

“His arms were crossed under the pillow, indicating he was likely asleep when he was shot,” Vradenburg said.

The prosecutor said friends of the couple came forward to show investigators evidence of Murphy’s erratic behavior dating back well before October 2022, including online accusations that “gangstalkers” were targeting and hoping to use dowsing rods to find the women’s bodies believed to be buried. in Farrell’s backyard.

It is true that Farrell, a former US Marine, is known to have built a man-made military bunker on his property. To make sure they were dealing with delirium, Vradenburg said police later sent in cadaver dogs, which did not signal anything suspicious in the area.

Days before his death, Farrell contacted county police with a complaint that Murphy had abandoned her dog, but ultimately declined to press charges, Vradenburg said.

Just two days before the murder, Murphy contacted police and reported seeing “black shapes” above Farrell’s head, Vradenburg said.

While a separate psychiatric report found Murphy was mentally competent to stand trial, a psychiatric report submitted in early August and sealed by the court examined her state of mind at the time of the killing. It turned out that Murphy was not faking her symptoms, that she suffered from “schizophrenia spectrum and other mental disorders,” Vradenburg said, “with a gross lack of understanding of reality.”

Vradenburg listed Murphy’s other accusations: that Farrell was “trading” her, that he injected her with “nanobots” so he could see through her eyes, that a ghost appeared at their bedside, that a stuffed kangaroo Farrell had been keeping as a novelty suddenly raised its hand. .

Murphy couldn’t sleep the night of the murder, Vradenburg said.

“She was convinced she would be his next victim and would not survive the night,” Vradenburg said. “Her delusions persist to this day.”

Murphy appeared in court the same way she did at the last hearing: chin down, lips slightly parted, almost motionless.

“She’s pretty quiet,” said Nicholas Reppucci, her lead attorney and head of the local public defender’s office.

Farrell was a well-known and beloved eccentric in the Charlottesville area. In addition to writing novels and epic poetry, he ran an independent press, volunteered to promote the 1990s Charlottesville music scene, and was known to give friends homemade absinthe for Christmas.

“He was the sweetest person,” Lynchburg resident Rose Purdy told The Daily Progress after the hearing.

Purdy expressed relief that Virginia is detaining criminally insane offenders until they are no longer a danger to themselves or others, and Murphy will return to court Feb. 14 to hear recommendations regarding her future detention and treatment.

“I think it’s a matter of public safety to get her off the streets,” Pardee said. “She’s probably going to do something terrible again.”

Also observing the hearing was the victim’s mother, who said she agreed with the resolution after the prosecutor explained other possible outcomes: The jury could return their own verdict of not guilty or find Murphy guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter.

“Nobody won here,” Linda Farrell told The Daily Progress after the hearing. “It’s all very sad.”

She said her son loved “his little country house” on Stony Point Road and also had an obvious love, or at least compassion, for Murphy, whom he allowed to remain in his home despite the illness that later led to to his death and her death. detention.

“Matt felt there was something about her that was worth helping her get better,” Farrell said. “He tried so hard to get her to get treatment, but she wasn’t consistent.”