Copyright 2006 The News and Observer
By JESSICA ROCHA
The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
A judge ruled Wednesday that Carrboro’s outgoing fire chief violated a domestic protective order, but Chief Rodney Murray will remain on the town’s payroll until his last day of work -- still one month away.
Murray, who earns $77,776 a year, has been on medical leave since a heart attack in November and is retiring effective March 1.
Under the Carrboro Fire Department’s guidelines, an employee convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor can be suspended without pay or fired.
But Town Manager Steve Stewart said Murray did not receive special treatment. He said the chief tendered his resignation before he was found guilty of any offense.
“Every situation is different,” Stewart said.
Murray, 57, was convicted Wednesday of violating the restraining order that required him to stay away from former girlfriend Gina Ambrosecchia, her family and her subdivision. The charge came less than a week after Murray was given a plea deal, a chance to escape any criminal convictions if he stayed away from Ambrosecchia for six months.
Instead, he was convicted of driving near her home Jan. 25. The ruling by District Court Judge David LaBarre also convicted Murray of two other protective-order violations under the deal made last month.
The chief will be sentenced next week, and prosecutors could seek a prison sentence of five months or more. He also has charges pending of misdemeanor stalking, placing a harassing phone call and driving while impaired.
At the trial Wednesday in Durham, Ambrosecchia said she ended the couple’s 10-year relationship but Murray kept trying to talk her out of it. She said she took out a protective order when he would not leave her alone.
“I’m afraid that he might kill me,” Ambrosecchia testified.
However, Murray testified that on Jan. 25, he went to a restaurant with friends, had a glass of wine or two, and went home to watch television.
Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Winfrey asked Murray whether he still loved Ambrosecchia.
“Most definitely,” Murray said from the witness stand.
“If you can’t have her, nobody else is going to, is that correct?” the prosecutor asked.
“That’s not true,” Murray said.
Murray became Carrboro’s chief in 1994 and before that worked for 25 years at the Chapel Hill Fire Department.
Carrboro Alderman Jacquelyn Gist, the board’s senior member, said Murray did many things “that were beneficial to the town” as fire chief. “The town is getting past it,” she said of the chief’s recent troubles.
Guidelines titled “Carrboro Fire Department Rules and Regulations” say each case should be evaluated individually and that factors including how long the employee has been with the department and prior disciplinary actions can be considered before deciding a person’s punishment.
It also says “certain offenses are of such a serious nature that immediate suspension, demotion, or discharge upon the first offense is applicable.”
The guide lists three levels of offenses that could trigger some form of discipline.
One of the level II offenses is “Immoral or improper conduct or indecency, on or off the job, which would tend to affect employee’s relationship to the job, other employees’ reputations, trust or good will in the community.” A first-time level II offense could be punishable by as much as three days of suspension.
One of the level III offenses is, “Conviction of or plea of guilty to a felony or a serious misdemeanor while either on or off the job.” A level III offense recommends a minimum six-day suspension, up to being discharged. Upon a second level III offense, the only recommended course of action is “discharge.”
Murray’s conviction was a class misdemeanor, the most serious type of misdemeanor.
Stewart said he had never seen the department’s guidelines before being asked about them Tuesday.
“No department head would be treated like that,” he said.