An Orange County Superior Court judge says Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy did nothing wrong in the 2008 case of a man convicted of throwing a couple off a yacht for their money.

Murphy was accused in an 85-page motion of defrauding the jury by saying a jail inmate “got nothing” for testifying against former child actor Skylar Deleon. The inmate later received a lenient sentence although nothing was promised in advance.

The accusation was made by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders in a motion to preserve evidence in the case of former community theater actor Daniel Wozniak, who last year was convicted of murdering two people. Sanders’ previous claims against local prosecutors have unraveled at least six local murder and attempted murder cases after judges found that prosecutors and police misused informants or withheld evidence from defense lawyers or both.

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Psychologists take opposing views on Deleon’s childhood On Friday, Judge John Conley, who is presiding over the Wozniak case, concluded “there is no evidence of misconduct on the part of Mr. Murphy” in the cases of either Wozniak or Deleon.

Murphy indicated the judge’s ruling amounted to a vindication.

“On Friday, we were completely absolved of all wrongdoing,” Murphy said Tuesday.

“Sadly, the people who suffer for baseless accusations like this are the victim’s families,” he added. “They need to be allowed to move on.”

Sanders countered that the judge’s ruling gave little attention to the legal arguments.

“I would urge citizens who care about our criminal justice system to analyze our motion and the supporting documents, alongside a prosecution filing that has no substantive response to the allegations,” Sanders said. “They will be not only left deeply troubled by the court’s ruling, but will start to understand why it has taken so long to bring to light the systemic problems that have plagued this county.”

The facts of Sanders’ argument against Murphy aren’t in dispute. During the Deleon trial, who was sentenced to death for his role in murdering Thomas and Jackie Hawks, Murphy introduced a witness, Daniel Elias, who testified that Deleon offered to pay him to kill a pair of potential witnesses while both men were in jail. According to transcripts, Murphy told the jury at the time that Elias — a three-strike felon — “got nothing” in exchange for his testimony.

Two months later, Murphy — also serving as prosecutor of Elias — asked the judge in that case to consider Elias’ testimony against Deleon when sentencing him for felony drug and gun charges. Murphy told the judge in the Elias case the same thing he’d told the jury in Deleon; that Elias had been promised nothing in exchange for his testimony.

“At the time that Mr. Elias testified, he did so without any promises,” Murphy told Judge Thomas Borris. “There was never a wink, never a nod, an understanding between me and the defense that Mr. Elias would receive anything for his cooperation.”

Though Elias faced eight years in prison Borris set him free, saying his time served, four years in Orange County Jail, was punishment enough.

In the wake of Sanders’ accusation, Murphy said that his intent was not to deceive anyone and that the request for leniency in Elias was based on what he believed was appropriate.

With the ruling, Wozniak faces a death sentence pending an automatic appeal.