Judge sets 2022 for killer’s earliest parole eligibility

Convicted murderer Alicia Murphy will not be eligible for parole until 2022, a Yukon Supreme Court judge ruled Tuesday.

Friends and family of the victim,  Carmacks resident Evangeline Billy, packed one side of the courtroom yesterday afternoon, while members of the media, RCMP and Murphy’s supporters filled the remaining benches.

Murphy’s family members sat as close as they could to the convicted woman and cried as Justice Ron Veale read out his reasons for sentencing Murphy to 14 years before she is eligible for parole.

“Alicia Murphy has been convicted of a senseless and brutal murder,” Veale said of the crime, which saw Billy’s beaten body dumped half-naked into the Yukon River.

He noted the aggravating factors in the case being the violence of the crime, the fact that Murphy tried to make it look like a rape, the three-day drug and alcohol binge which preceded the murder, and the fact that Murphy had been on probation for an assault on her boyfriend at the time she killed Billy.

Murphy’s behaviour in jail since she was arrested also reflects badly on her, the judge said. He referred to the fact she has been caught smuggling marijuana and tobacco into jail, bullying other inmates and threatening them with violence.

He noted that a second-degree murder conviction automatically comes with a life sentence, and that Murphy will not necessarily be a free woman in 2022.

After serving 14 years, Murphy’s file will be seen by a parole review board, whose members will decide if she can go free.

Even then, the law will continue to keep an eye on Murphy.

“She will remain under mandatory supervision for the rest of her life,” Veale said.

Murphy was found guilty by a supreme court jury last month.

She pleaded not guilty to the charge against her and said she had been at her drug dealer’s house at the time of the murder.

Two witnesses testified Murphy told them she killed Billy during an attempted robbery, then tried to make it look as if the woman had been raped.

Both women were born in 1980.