
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 16, 1995                   TAG: 9506170001
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DAD CHALLENGES FEDERAL LAW ON CHILD SUPPORT

Although he coughed up $12,500 in back child support last week, one of Virginia's top 10 "deadbeat dads" has challenged the law that allowed authorities to bring him back from New York to face charges.

James D. Murphy Jr. was found guilty in federal court recently of "willfully" not paying child support, and last Friday, a check was presented to his ex-wife and daughter for nearly five years' worth of back payments.

But U.S. Magistrate Glen Conrad has delayed entering the guilty judgment against Murphy while he listens to attorneys' arguments about whether a 3-year-old law is constitutional.

It's the first time the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 has been used in the Western District of Virginia.

The law was passed by Congress to target parents who move out of state to avoid paying child support. It allows authorities to deal with out-of-state parents through the federal courts rather than having to negotiate differing laws in other states. Under it, parents found to have willfully refused to pay court-ordered child support can face federal criminal penalties.

But in asking Conrad to dismiss the charge against his client, Murphy's attorney argued in a written memorandum that enforcing state child support orders is not a power delegated to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Campbell argued that the law does not usurp power from the states, but instead creates a partnership between state and federal governments.

Conrad will hear oral arguments from both sides later in the month.

Last August, Murphy was deemed one of Virginia's "Ten Most Wanted" child support evaders. The top 10 - who owed a total of $211,785 - were not necessarily those in deepest arrears but those identified as among the hardest cases to enforce.

In October, once Murphy discovered he was on the list, he contacted the Child Support Enforcement Division, promising to resume the $240 monthly payments he'd been ordered to pay.

But after arranging a repayment schedule, he disappeared.

In January, FBI agents arrested Murphy in Bradenton, Fla.

Mike Henry, director of Virginia's Child Support Enforcement Division, said the federal law helps track down a certain kind of deadbeat parent.

"It's a good additional tool for us to use on a select type of interstate case," Henry said. "The law is not going to completely fix interstate child support enforcement problems. Without this law, we can take some of the same actions, but it's difficult to coordinate state to state. It's easier to use one federal court."

by CNB