Copyright 2006 The Durham Herald Co.
By JOHN STEVENSON
Chapel Hill Herald (Durham, NC)
DURHAM, N.C. - Carrboro Fire Chief Rodney Murray was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail, two years of supervised probation and a stint in an addiction-treatment facility for violating judicial orders to stay away from a former longtime girlfriend.
Describing Murray’s hounding of Gina Maria Ambrosecchia as “a crime of the heart, a crime of passion,” District Judge David Q. LaBarre said Murray had been “embarrassed and humiliated by his own actions.”
As of Wednesday, the 57-year-old Murray already had served 21 days in jail in two installments, meaning he must serve only nine more.
Testimony indicated that Murray was addicted to Ambrosecchia, and also that he might have a drinking problem.
“Simply locking him up is not going to address his addictions, be they addictions to persons or alcohol,” said LaBarre. “He needs treatment.”
Under the judge’s orders, treatment will be provided for up to 30 days at the Fellowship Hall facility in Greensboro.
Another possible term
A 90-day suspended jail term was left hanging over Murray’s head Wednesday. It could be activated if he violated any conditions of probation, including a commandment to stay away from Ambrosecchia.
There must be “no calls, no letters, no telegrams, no e-mails, no smoke signals, no whatever” between Murray and the woman, LaBarre ordered.
Wednesday’s punishment came in response to a Jan. 25 incident in which Murray violated previous judicial instructions by going near Ambrosecchia’s home. He was found guilty of that offense last week.
“Victims have a right to know that court orders will provide some protection,” and such orders cannot be ignored due to “a twang of the heart,” said LaBarre.
“Courts are like jealous wives as to their orders,” the judge added. “They don’t like folks to ignore their orders. Chief Murray has, if not ignored them, disobeyed them.”
Murray, who is on medical leave from the Carrboro Fire Department but remains on the town’s payroll until his planned March 1 retirement, has had four recent arrests.
He was first apprehended on Christmas Eve and charged with driving while impaired and several other offenses, including making harassing phone calls to Ambrosecchia. A week later, on New Year’s Eve, Ambrosecchia accused him of misdemeanor stalking.
And on Jan. 12, Murray was arrested a third time and held in jail a week, once again because of alleged offenses against Ambrosecchia.
A challenge for anybody
Clinical psychologist Charles Cooper testified Wednesday that Murray apparently was addicted to Ambrosecchia and was devastated when the relationship ended.
Other troubles -- including a heart attack last November that forced him to take medical leave -- came at Murray “at a breakneck pace, so fast it would challenge anybody,” said Cooper.
Defense lawyer James D. “Butch” Williams struck a similar theme in a closing argument Wednesday, describing Murray as a “very virile, vibrant, firefighting kind of man” who lost a “life-long passion” when his career ended.
And when Murray then lost his confidante in Ambrosecchia, he was doubly traumatized, Williams added. The attorney said Murray violated judicial orders merely because he wanted to talk things out with Ambrosecchia, not because he had harmful intentions.
Prosecutor Carolyn Winfrey disagreed.
“The state is not here to seek revenge against Mr. Murray,” she said. “We’re here to try to protect Ms. Ambrosecchia. He’s not even acknowledging that their relationship is over. She is afraid for her life. She’s scared to death.”
Winfrey said she had “no doubt that this man is a good man,” but she still asked that he be locked up for as long as 120 days.