Murphy

A man arrested for a 2008 sexual assault in Marion County has pled not guilty.

James Michael Murphy of Knoxville faces of one count sexual abuse in the 2nd degree. Murphy’s arrest was connected to an August 2008 Marion County Sheriff’s Office investigation, in which a female arrived at a local emergency room reporting that she was abducted at knife point, taken to another location, and sexually assaulted by an unknown male assailant.

The victim submitted to a sexual assault examination, in which DNA evidence was collected. Murphy’s profile was entered into a database following a separate arrest in 2014, and police say his DNA was a match to the one identified in the Marion County 2008 sexual assault.

A pretrial conference will begin on April 15th.