Serial rapist gets 120 years for Wheaton attack on mom, infant
Calling it a crime “the devil himself would be loath to commit,” a DuPage County judge sentenced a serial rapist to 120 years in prison Monday for the August 2005 sexual assault of a Wheaton woman and her infant daughter.
James P. Murphy, 37, was convicted in May of breaking into the victim's apartment while she slept and snapping photos as he repeatedly sexually assaulted her and forced her to sexually assault her 5-month-old child.
On Monday, Judge Daniel Guerin imposed a maximum term on the former Oak Forest man after prosecutors detailed decades of sexual deviancy, including the assaults of a 17-year-old girl at Naperville Central High School and a 12-year-old girl at a Moline, Ill., hotel in the early 1990s.
“Yours has been a life lived mostly degrading, stalking, terrorizing and sexually assaulting women and children,” Guerin told Murphy. “That life is over.”
Murphy was already serving a 30-year sentence for raping a 25-year-old Cook County woman in 2006 — a crime that ultimately led to his arrest in the Wheaton rape. He showed no reaction throughout Monday's hearing and declined to make a statement when given the opportunity.
The Wheaton victim, who was 27 when she and her daughter were attacked, looked directly at Murphy occasionally as she recalled his “sick-minded and selfish” acts, which left her overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. The woman said in a victim impact statement that God had brought peace to her life and could “do the same” for Murphy.
“God restored to me what Mr. Murphy stole,” she said, fighting back tears. “The memories are painful, but they no longer have power over me.”
Prosecutor Cathy DeLaMar described Murphy as a “predator constantly searching for his next victim.” She said he committed his first sex crime at age 14 and — despite a supportive family and years of counseling — went on to victimize no fewer than 11 women and children. She said Murphy talked excitedly about his exploits in Internet chat rooms, and only “feigned remorse” when he was caught.
“He is a conniving, cautious and sadistically creative individual — and he's excited by what he's done,” DeLaMar said. “Every breath he takes for the rest of his miserable life should be taken in the Department of Corrections.”