Fresno Killer Shows No Remorse At Sentencing, Tells Victim's Daughter He'd Kill Her Father Again
A Fresno judge gave Damien Murphy a chance to say he was sorry for killing William Carney. Instead, the 32-year-old told Carney's gathered family, "I'd do it a million times" — then sat silent as the judge sentenced him to 32 years.
Case at a glance
- Damien Murphy — Defendant, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, sentenced
- William Carney — victim
- Essence Carney — Victim's daughter, courtroom statement
Next: Murphy is due back in Fresno County court in December 2026 for a restitution hearing, where the court will determine what he owes Carney's family. No specific date has been reported for that hearing.
The shooting outside a Fresno gas station
William Carney was shot at a gas station in central Fresno in October 2023. Outlets disagree on the exact date: ABC30 Fresno reported the shooting happened October 17, 2023, at Belmont and Effie, while the Fresno Bee, as cited by Hoodline, placed it a night earlier, October 16, 2023, near a gas station at Belmont Avenue and Abby Street.
Carney was found with a gunshot wound around 10:30 p.m., according to the New York Post. He received immediate medical attention and underwent surgery at a medical center, but his injuries proved fatal.
Detectives told reporters the shooting stemmed from a confrontation Carney had with Damien Murphy's family, though authorities have never said publicly what the dispute was about, according to the New York Post. Murphy was arrested about a month after the killing.
Who's involved
William Carney was 39 years old — less than a month shy of his 40th birthday — when he was killed. He left behind five children. His daughter, Essence Carney, spoke on the family's behalf at Thursday's sentencing. Carney's mother and a childhood friend identified only as Adam also addressed the court.
Damien Murphy, 32, fired the shot that killed Carney. He told the court Thursday he had been protecting his family.
A Fresno County judge presided over the sentencing; none of the available coverage named the judge.
"I would apologize, but I'm not going to apologize for protecting my family. I'd do it a million times." — Damien Murphy, according to ABC30 Fresno
A manslaughter plea instead of a murder trial
In September 2026, Murphy pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter. The plea let him avoid a first-degree murder conviction and secure a far lower sentence than he could have faced if convicted of murder at trial, according to the New York Post and ABC30 Fresno.
A no-contest plea means Murphy did not admit guilt but agreed not to fight the charge, which carries the same legal weight as a guilty plea for sentencing purposes. Voluntary manslaughter, unlike murder, generally applies when a killing happens in the heat of passion or under circumstances a court finds less than premeditated — a legal middle ground between a full defense and an intentional killing.
On Thursday, the judge sentenced Murphy to 32 years in state prison and denied him probation.
'I'd do it a million times'
More than a dozen of Carney's friends and family packed the courtroom Thursday for what they described as the end of a painful, three-year wait, according to ABC30 Fresno.
For more than 20 minutes, Carney's relatives addressed Murphy directly. Essence Carney told the court, "It was like all my dreams died at once. My dad won't ever see me on prom day. He can never walk me down the aisle on my wedding day and cry, seeing how much I've grown."
Carney's mother told the court, "My life simply no longer holds the happiness it once had. The joy that used to come naturally has been replaced by grief," according to ABC30 Fresno. A childhood friend identified only as Adam told Murphy, "I can't hate you because I know you're suffering more than he is, and that brings me peace of mind."
Murphy showed no reaction through the family's statements, according to ABC30 Fresno and Hoodline. When the judge gave him the chance to speak, Murphy said, "I would apologize, but I'm not going to apologize for protecting my family. I'd do it a million times," according to the New York Post and ABC30 Fresno. The judge responded, "I hope you change your mind and have some remorse for your actions, and don't be disrespectful to the people you murdered and hurt their families." Earlier in the hearing, the judge told Murphy, "I hope every second of your 32 years, you think about William and his family and the damage you've caused."
What the case still hasn't explained
Authorities have never said publicly what sparked the confrontation between Carney and Murphy's family, according to the New York Post. Neither has any outlet reported what, if anything, happened between the two men directly before the shooting.
Basic facts about the shooting are reported differently across outlets, including the date and the precise intersection where it happened, as Hoodline noted in comparing ABC30's and the Fresno Bee's accounts. The plea and the sentence, by contrast, are consistent across every report.
Carney's killing came as Fresno's homicide count was falling citywide. The Fresno Police Department's 2023 annual report, cited by Hoodline, recorded 35 murders that year, down 42% from 60 the year before.
What happens next
Murphy is due back in Fresno County court in December 2026 for a restitution hearing, where the court will determine what he owes Carney's family. No specific date has been reported for that hearing.
How this plays in court
Letting Murphy plead to voluntary manslaughter rather than taking a first-degree murder case to trial suggests prosecutors saw something in the record — most likely the still-undisclosed 'confrontation' investigators described — that could have supported a heat-of-passion or provocation argument before a jury, making a guaranteed 32-year sentence more attractive than the risk of a lesser verdict or an outright acquittal.
Murphy's claim that he was 'protecting his family' tracks with detectives' description of a confrontation involving his relatives, but a self-defense or defense-of-others theory is tested at trial, not asserted after a no-contest plea has already fixed the outcome. At sentencing, it functions as justification rather than a legal defense a judge can weigh against the conviction.
Because Murphy entered a no-contest plea, no jury ever weighed the facts; the 32-year term reflects a negotiated resolution, and the judge's remaining discretion was limited to whether to grant probation, which he declined to do.
Murphy's statement that he would 'do it a million times' does not reopen his sentence, but it becomes part of the permanent record any parole board will eventually review, alongside the judge's on-the-record comments about his lack of remorse.
- NY Post: Fresno Killer Shows No Remorse At Sentencing, Tells Victim's Daughter He'd Kill Her Father Again
- 6abc Philadelphia: Fresno, California killer says 'I'd do it a million times' during sentencing
- ABC30 Fresno: Fresno killer says, 'I'd do it a million times,' during sentencing
- Hoodline: Fresno Man Sentenced to 32 Years in William Carney Killing