UKIAH, 3/23/22 — Former Ukiah Police Sgt. Kevin Murray has been ordered to appear before the Mendocino County Superior Court on May 16 for a jury trial on various felony sex crime charges as well as burglary, filing false evidence in an investigation, possession of methamphetamine and an AR-15 considered illegal under state law. Prosecutors plan to call just one current UPD officer as a witness, Capt. Cedric Crook, as well as an unidentified 911 dispatcher, according to a pre-trial motion filed March 10 by the district attorney’s office.
Selecting a jury is expected to take three days, and then four more days for prosecutors to present their case. Those estimates do not include time allotted for the defense, so the case will likely go on for weeks barring the possibility of a last-minute plea bargain. Murray was not required to be present for the latest hearing before Judge Carly Dolan last week, but he’s been ordered to be present for the trial.
Murray has been charged with sexually assaulting two women, identified only as S.Y. and Jane Doe 1, and both of those individuals appear on the prosecution’s witness list. Former UPD Detective Isabel Siderakis does not appear on that list, despite having alleged a sexual assault by Murray under remarkably similar circumstances in a civil lawsuit filed against the city in August, 2021. In a possible reference to Siderakis’ allegations, however, prosecutors say they intend to introduce evidence of sexual offenses that have been alleged but not criminally charged.
Prosecutors also intend to introduce a picture of Murray’s genitalia as evidence, presumably for identification purposes. They laid out chilling details of their case, including allegations from a 2014 case in which prosecutors say Murray used a condom while raping a friend of his then- wife — tying off the prophylactic and taking it with him in an apparent effort to destroy the evidence of his crime.
Murray will have at least several defense attorneys guiding him through the courts, which is somewhat unusual for Mendocino County. Many criminal defendants here negotiate the system with a solo public defender, whom they may have little with outside the courtroom. Court records indicate that Stephen Gallenson, Jane Gaskell and Chris Andrian of the Santa Rosa-based law firm Andrian, Gallenson & Gaskell as well as attorney Orchid Vaghti.
Scheduling problems notwithstanding, Murray’s trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. Monday, May 16 before Judge Dolan, Dept. H at the Mendocino County Superior Courthouse, 100 N. State Street in Ukiah. Check out The Voice’s previous coverage of former Sgt. Kevin Murray below.
