I feel I had to say something about this since it happened about 2 miles away from my house and Peter Murphy is a legend, right? A goth legend! Bauhaus has influenced everyone in punk rock culture from Iggy Pop to the Sex Pistols, from David Bowie to the Velvet Underground and a long cohort of more recent bands. Doesn’t Joy Division own a lot to Bauhaus?
Anyway, this highly influential band finds its ex-frontman in hot waters these days. Murphy was sentenced this past week to 3 years of probation and must complete 45 days of Narcotics Anonymous meetings for damaging the rear of a car in Glendale and fleeing the scene. He was caught 6 miles away from the accident and the police charged him for methamphetamine possession. That’s serious business right?
However, Murphy pleaded guilty to the meth charge (after having previously pleading not guilty) and the charge could be dropped and completely removed from his criminal record if he completes his days with Narcotics Anonymous. I never understand anything related to laws, if you burn a red light it stays years on your record, 0.1% of all state prisoners are in jail for marijuana possession (with no prior sentence), but meth possession can be erased just like this? Judge Frederick Rotenberg said to Murphy ‘It would be as if it never took place’
But there is more to this strange story, according to the LA Times, Murphy had a drug/alcohol test and his level was 0.01 so that his attorney said there was no evidence that his client was using drugs or alcohol,… so why did I see articles mentioning a DUI?
And there are even more curious circumstances: The police found the small plastic bag containing meth inside the patrol car where Murphy was already sitting, handcuffed. Could this bag have been inside the car, before Murphy got in? This is the question asked by the attorney and I find all thisreally strange indeed. Imagine being handcuffed and suddenly emptying your pockets and oops, by the way here is my meth bag? What a joke. And if he was clean why did he plead guilty? To avoid jail? If he was clean why does he have to do meetings at NA? Or is there even more to the story?
Still, meth or no meth a hit and run looks really bad for Peter Murphy.