Jasper McMurtrey | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Jasper Newton McMURTREY

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Fight at a bar

Number of victims: 2

Date of murders: August 10, 1979

Date of birth: October 29, 1951

Victims profile: Barry Collins and Albert Hughes

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA

Status: Sentenced to death on August 28, 1981. Resentenced to death on November 17, 1983 and April 30, 1985. Sentence vacated December 23, 2003. Resentenced to 21 years in prison and released on June 30, 2009

Date of Birth: October 29, 1951
Defendant: Caucasian
Victim: Caucasian

On August 10, 1979, McMurtrey became involved in a fight at the Ranch House Bar in Tucson.

McMurtrey was a biker and the Ranch House was a biker hangout. Three men wanted a piece of McMurtrey and invited him outside.

McMurtrey claimed he did not want any trouble so he armed himself for self-defense. He claimed that one of the victims pointed a gun at him so he opened fire, killing Barry Collins and Albert Hughes, and wounding the third man.

PROCEEDINGS

    Presiding Judge: Jack Arnold
    Prosecutors: James D. Himelic (Trial)
Kenneth Peasley (resentencing)
    Start of Trial: July 1, 1981
    Verdict: July 13, 1981
    Sentencing: August 28, 1981
    Resentencing: November 17, 1983 (first resentencing)
        April 30, 1985 (second resentencing)

Aggravating Circumstances:

Grave risk of death to others

Mitigating Circumstances:

None sufficient to call for leniency

PUBLISHED OPINIONS

    State v. McMurtrey, 136 Ariz. 93, 664 P.2d 637 (1983).
    State v. McMurtrey, 143 Ariz. 71, 691 P.2d 1099 (1984).
    State v. McMurtrey, 151 Ariz. 105, 726 P.2d 202 (1986).

JASPER NEWTON McMURTREY ADC# 043391 - Sentence Vacated December 23, 2003

Court: Man denied fair trial in slayings

Jasper McMurtrey has been on Arizona's death row for 22 years

By A. J. Flick - TucsonCitizen.com

August 21, 2008

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that a California man's right to a fair trial was violated when he was convicted and sentenced to death for a 1979 Tucson-area double murder.

The appeals court unanimously upheld a district court ruling that Jasper McMurtrey, who spent 22 years on Arizona's death row, likely wasn't competent to stand trial in 1981.

"We hold that McMurtrey's memory problems, his erratic behavior, and the variety and quantity of medications that he was prescribed, combined with the absence of an expert evaluation made at the time of trial, created a reasonable doubt as to McMurtrey's mental competence to stand trial," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote in the ruling.

"What it means," said defense attorney Gregory J. Kuykendall, "is that Mr. McMurtrey did not ever receive a hearing at the time of his trial to determine whether he was competent to stand trial. And because of the failure to conduct a hearing at that time about his competence and because of a number of factors that seriously indicate that he was, in fact, incompetent, his right to a fair trial was violated."

Being competent to stand trial means the defendant is able to understand the charges and able to help in his or her defense. Being incompetent does not necessarily mean that the defendant is mentally ill, though McMurtrey does have some mental health issues.

Tucson attorney Natman Schaye also represented McMurtrey in his appeal.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office could decide to ask for a rehearing at the 9th Circuit or take an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is unlikely, Kuykendall said.

Barring any appeal, McMurtrey would return to Arizona to find out whether prosecutors will retry him, offer a plea deal or dismiss charges.

"This is in the hands of the Attorney General's Office," said David Berkman, chief criminal Pima County Attorney. "They are weighing their options regarding to the appeal.

"If it has to come back to us, we will review the case and determine our options," Berkman said.

McMurtrey, who is being monitored by Pretrial Services, is living out of state.

"He has adjusted really, really well and has been living a productive, crime-free and substance abuse-free life," Kuykendall said.

"He's gone to school, gotten a job and he's just done extraordinarily well," Kuykendall said. "It's a real tribute to the power of redemption."

McMurtrey was sentenced to death in 1981 for the shooting deaths of Barry F. Collins of North Carolina and Albert Hughes Jr. of New Jersey at the now-defunct Ranch House bar, a topless-dancer club and biker hangout at 4950 N. Casa Grande Highway. He was also sentenced to 21 years for wounding another bar patron, Eugene Taylor.

In March 2003, a federal judge ordered a new trial, ruling that McMurtrey's legal representation had been inadequate. The state Attorney General's Office appealed that ruling, but failed to seek a stay of the new trial, which was supposed to take place within 180 days.

In December 2003, U.S. District Judge William Fremming Nielsen released McMurtrey, saying he did not believe he intended to kill.

After 20 years on death row, he's free: Plea deal releases him after '81 convictions tossed due to competence, defense issues

By Kim Smith - The Arizona Daily Star

Jun. 30, 2009

A 57-year-old Tucson man who spent more than 20 years on death row before having his conviction overturned entered a plea agreement with prosecutors Monday and is a free man.

Jasper McMurtrey pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 1979 deaths of Albert Hughes and Barry Collins.

In Pima County Superior Court, Judge John Leonardo sentenced him to 21 years on the murder charge and a concurrent 10-year sentence on the manslaughter charge and gave him credit for time served.

According to court documents, McMurtrey, Hughes and Collins were in a Tucson bar arguing about how tough they were. They arm-wrestled, bit and chewed glass, and showed off Harley-Davidson tattoos.

McMurtrey left the bar, returned with a revolver, killed Hughes and Collins, and wounded a third man.

During his 1981 trial, McMurtrey's lawyers argued self-defense and insanity.

McMurtrey's convictions were overturned in March 2003 after U.S. District Judge Fremming Nielsen found questions about McMurtrey's competence during the trial as well as ineffective assistance from his attorneys at that time.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office appealed but failed to address McMurtrey's right to a new trial within 180 days.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed prosecutors to appeal Nielsen's ruling after all, but as a sanction for missing the original deadline released McMurtrey from prison.

The 9th Circuit ultimately upheld Nielsen's ruling and granted McMurtrey a new trial.

Rick Unklesbay, chief trial counsel for the Pima County Attorney's Office, said McMurtrey was allowed to enter a plea agreement for two reasons.

The majority of the witnesses in the cases have died, Unklesbay said, and doctors would have had to try to determine McMurtrey's mental status 30 years ago.

If doctors had ruled McMurtrey was incompetent at the time of the slayings, Unklesbay said he would not have been allowed to use trial transcripts outlining McMurtrey's and the dead 'witnesses' accounts of what happened that day.

The transcripts would be inadmissible because McMurtrey, if incompetent back then, was unable to assist in his defense at the time of the trial and incompetent to testify, Unklesbay said.

Leonardo could not have given McMurtrey any more than 21 years on the murder charge because that was the maximum sentence at the time of the slayings, Unklesbay said.

The manslaughter charge could have been run consecutively, but the judge opted not to do so because McMurtrey has remained out of trouble since his release from prison five years ago, Unklesbay said. The defendant also has health issues.

McMurtrey has been living in South Carolina, but he has been monitored by Pretrial Services the entire time.

Jasper Newton McMurtrey

In a Tucson bar, Jasper McMurtrey argued about how tough he was and showed it by arm wrestling and by chewing glass, documents say.
(David Sanders / Arizona Daily Star 2004)