Vt. high court rejects convicted killer’s appeal

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - The Vermont Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a convicted killer.

Chavis Murphy will stay behind bars after the state’s highest court says evidence used in his trial was justified.

In 2018, Murphy was found guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Obafemi Adedapo.

The murder happened in 2015 outside what was then a bar called the Zen Lounge on lower Church Street in Burlington.

Several witnesses told police that Murphy interacted with Adedapo just before the shots were fired. Police decided Murphy was a good suspect after not finding him at home.

Because Murphy was on the run, officers requested an immediate ping of his cellphone from AT&T to track him down. That led to his eventual arrest in Massachusetts.

Murphy’s lawyers argued to the Supreme Court that police needed a warrant to collect that cellphone location data and they didn’t get one.

But the court rejected that argument, saying that even if it was protected and private information, the circumstances of an alleged killer on the run justified the request.

So Murphy remains behind bars, continuing to serve his sentence of 20 years to life.

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