Gangrey
Vol. I · No. 1Prolonging the Slow Death of NewspapersEst. 2026

Shadow Of Doubt

Part I, from Cary Aspinwall and Ziva Bransetter: Prosecutor Tim Harris stood before jurors deciding Michelle Murphy's fate and told them police found someone's blood near her slain baby's body — blood he implied could be hers.

"Ladies and gentleman, beyond a reasonable doubt this woman killed her child," he told them.

What Harris didn't tell jurors is that as the trial started Nov. 14, 1995, he possessed a report from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation that said Murphy's blood type was different than the type found at the scene. That test determined DNA found at the scene was not hers, contradicting Harris' implication to jurors about what the Tulsa police lab tests showed.

A Tulsa Worl…

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