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Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2009 > December > 02 > Entry
Woman who had sex with boy sentenced to probation, due to her poor health
DAYTON — The woman who celebrated her 55th birthday by having sex with a 12-year-old boy was sentenced Wednesday, Dec. 2, to five years probation with strict supervision.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman said she would have sentenced Gloria J. Murphy to prison, but Murphy’s poor physical condition would send her straight to a medical ward, which would not be punitive enough.
“There would be no meaningful punishment,” Huffman said, before promising that probation would be “a lot tougher than being in prison.”
Other than appointments to the probation department or for medical treatment, “you’re not going to be out of the house,” said Huffman, who also designated Murphy as a Tier 2 sex offender.
Murphy, of 5440 Rawlings Drive, pleaded guilty Oct. 23 to one count of sexual imposition of a person under age 13. Her other charge, rape of a child under age 13, was dropped under the terms of a plea agreement.
Murphy, who uses a walker and an oxygen tube, appeared frail. Her attorney, Richard Skelton, asked that she be allowed to stay seated during the brief hearing. Huffman granted the request Huffman.
Skelton said Murphy had suffered at least one stroke and had been admitted to a hospital seven times since the incident occurred in January. Murphy also suffers from irreversible pulmonary disease, he said.
“She barely can take care of herself at this time,” Skelton said. “I know that does not erase what happened in this case.”
Murphy apologized for the incident, and Huffman noted that Murphy had taken full responsibility, never offering excuses. But Huffman said that her medical condition was the only thing that kept her from a prison sentence.
“Your behavior is not excused simply because you are a female,” Huffman said. “To say that you exercised poor judgment would be a gross understatement.”
The charge is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. Under Ohio law, there is no presumption for or against prison for a third-degree felony.
“Gloria, you’ve really messed my son up,” the victim’s father said during a brief victim impact statement. Murphy remained silent and did not look at the man, who said that Murphy manipulated him to get his son into her house so that she could take advantage of him.
The father said that he and his son forgive Murphy, but added that the boy is attending “ongoing counseling you don’t know nothing about.”
Dayton police arrested Murphy at 8 a.m. on Jan. 30 after the boy notified an adult that he had sex with Murphy, according to police.
The encounter happened late Jan. 28 — Murphy’s birthday — and lasted into the early hours the next day, according to Dayton police. Murphy did not force the boy to have sex, but since he is younger than 13, it is considered rape, police said.
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