Murfin facing two felonies after accepting plea deal for attacking amputee with gun

HILLSDALE — The teenager who attacked an amputee in Litchfield at gunpoint in late July pled guilty to two of his felony charges earlier this week.

William Karl Murfin, 19, said that he went to a party on the evening of July 26 in Tekonsha. Murfin said that he drank alcohol at the party and became “belligerent” — so much so that his friends kicked him out.

“My friends got tired of me,” Murfin said.

They drove him to Litchfield, dropping him off at Fireman’s Park.

Somewhat inebriated, Murfin walked to his house on Garfield Street, took his parents’ .38 special from a shoebox in a cupboard, stuffed it in his shorts and headed for the Shell gas station on Jonesville Street.

“I was going to rob it,” Murfin admitted on Monday morning before Hillsdale County Circuit Court Judge Mike Smith. He never actually did it though, and instead found himself in an altercation with a neighbor.

Carousing around Litchfield in the wee hours of the morning, Murfin awoke 57-year-old single-leg amputee John Wagar when Murfin knocked over trash cans in the yard of Wagar’s apartment complex. When Murfin crossed back through the yard to his own house, Wagar called to him.

“When he saw me walking, he confronted me,” Murfin said.

Wagar, now out in his own yard, asked Murfin what he was doing, and Murfin responded with expletives and force. The teen pointed the gun — which was, unbeknownst to Wagar, not loaded — at the man and threatened to “break [his] other leg,” Wagar later reported.

“I attempted to kick his crutch out from under him,” Murfin said, but the amputee remained standing.

“He must be a pretty sturdy guy,” an impressed Smith said.

And so he is: A few swings later, Wagar retaliated.

The amputee swung one of his crutches at Murfin, connecting with the side of the teen’s head and drawing blood. Murfin ran away, breaking a side mirror off of Wagar’s truck on his way. Murfin tossed the gun behind a tree near his house and holed up at his house.

Murfin called for help from his friends, who instead called police. When they responded, they found Murfin unwilling to exit the home. Operating under the suspicion that he was armed and dangerous, Michigan State Police coaxed Murfin out of the house using the bullhorn attached to a patrol car.

Police recovered the gun from where Murfin had ditched it shortly after the arrest. After executing a search at Murfin’s home, they also found burnt tin foil and meth residue in his bedroom, which Murfin “forgot to throw away” after using the drug.

Murfin was lodged on one count each of assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of meth and felony firearm charges. On Monday, he pled guilty to the first two, which could see the teen imprisoned for up to nine years.

Murfin is set to be sentenced in at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 21, at the Hillsdale County Courthouse.