Crescent-News.com - Murray to run for Defiance County prosecutor's post

Longtime Defiance County assistant prosecutor and child support enforcement agency director Morris Murray has announced his candidacy in 2008 for prosecuting attorney.

Murray has served as an assistant prosecutor in the county since 1985, and decided to seek the position when Prosecutor Jeff Strausbaugh announced he would seek the position of juvenile and probate judge.

"I have learned a great deal serving under Jeff Strausbaugh as well as his predecessor," said Murray. "I am pleased that Jeff now has the opportunity to seek a judicial position that I know he will fill with competence and integrity. I have likewise waited patiently for my opportunity to become county prosecutor, having devoted my career primarily to law enforcement. I hope my prior service and experience demonstrates my qualifications for election to this position."

A University of Dayton graduate, he earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1979. He then served as a police officer for more than four years.

In 1984, he earned his law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law, and in 1988 county commissioners appointed him as director of the county's child support enforcement agency.

In this position, he is responsible for managing 15 employees and an operating budget of approximately $900,000. Since the 1988 appointment, Murray has served the county as both agency director and assistant prosecutor.

During his tenure in those positions, Murray has been a member of the executive board for the Ohio Child Support Directors Association, having been elected president of the statewide organization in 2000.

In his capacity as an assistant prosecuting attorney, Murray has prosecuted virtually all categories of criminal cases and has extensive training and experience in the area of child abuse and sex offense prosecutions.

For 17 years he has participated with law enforcement and social services personnel on an interdisciplinary child abuse task force, whose efforts have resulted in the prosecution of hundreds of child abuse-related cases.

Murray is also a trained mediator, having conducted hundreds of mediations in a wide variety of cases for courts in northwest Ohio.

He is also a part-time instructor of criminal justice for Defiance College.

He has lived in Defiance for more than 22 years with his wife, Anne, and their five children. During this time he has maintained an active role in the community, volunteering in a variety of positions including 15 years as a board member for the Center for Child and Family Advocacy and several years as its president; board member of the former Crisis Line for Domestic Violence; volunteer member and two-time president of PRIDE, a parent-teacher organization; and vice president of the Defiance High School Athletic Boosters.

He has also volunteered for many years in a variety of roles connected with youth sports, including volunteer baseball coach and trustee for the Defiance Baseball Association, and is a past president of the Defiance County Bar Association.