Dying N.H. woman requests pardon hearing

CONCORD (AP) – The Executive Council on Wednesday will review a dying woman’s request for a pardon hearing.

But for Theresa Murphy, 42, it doesn’t matter much now. Murphy was released from the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections in September, only days after she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Doctors said then she had three to six months to live.

Prison superintendent James O’Mara let her leave prison and go home, where she was under confinement until early December, when her sentence was completed. O’Mara said the unusual arrangement was an experimental program “that began and ended with inmate Murphy.”

Murphy was convicted in April of being a habitual offender and given a mandatory one-year jail sentence. Her record includes drunken driving, reckless operation and driving after her license was revoked.

Murphy can’t drink alcohol or drive while on probation, said her husband John Murphy, who has petitioned the courts for months to get a pardon.

Prosecutors object to the pardon request.

The former inmate is under probation and has certain restrictions, John Murphy said. But a pardon even at this late date would allow her to travel out of state to seek better medical treatment, he said.