An Oahu woman alleges that in May, while she was a 17-year-old high school senior, her English teacher got her drunk and had sex with her at his Kailua home.
Although the state Department of Education’s policy forbids teachers from having romantic or sexual relationships with students, having sex with a 17-year-old student does not constitute a crime. Under Hawaii law, statutory rape occurs when the victim is below age 16.
While some states have laws specifically prohibiting sexual contact between educators and students, Hawaii does not.
The DOE has placed 16-year veteran teacher Marc Murdock, 56, on department-directed leave while it conducts an investigation. He has been teaching at Kalaheo High School since Aug. 18, 1998.
He pleaded not guilty to a June 30 charge of harassment, a petty misdemeanor, for allegedly making repeated, unwelcome communications with the then-17-year-old on May 10. A bench trial continues Oct. 22 at Kaneohe District Court in the case.
Murdock’s attorney, Todd Eddins, declined to comment on the case.
However, Eddins said in a court document filed in the harassment case that a temporary restraining order petition filed May 14 by the girl’s mother asserts the girl and Murdock "are or were dating (romantic, courting, or engaged)," and that the girl was 17 years and 11 months at that time.
Eddins also said both the teen and her mother failed to appear in Family Court, and the court ordered that the TRO expire on her 18th birthday in June.
The court document also says the teen’s mother asked the Police Department to conduct a sexual assault investigation.
But police closed that investigation after the girl "steadfastly asserted verbally and in her own handwriting that sexual contact between the two was consensual," according to material provided by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney to Eddins.
The document asked the court to compel the state to provide all electronic communications the girl had with Murdock.
Eddins said in the document that the girl sent a text message to Murdock the day after he had sexual contact with her, asking, "Are you doing anything tonight?"
And on May 10, the date of the alleged harassment, the girl texted Murdock twice, saying, "You were trying to contact me all day yesterday, and now that you have me you don’t want to talk to me? Tease."
The teen, now attending an Oregon college, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that she is speaking out in hopes other victims come forward and that other students may be forewarned.
The teen, who is not being identified because she was a minor at the time of the alleged harassment, said Murdock gave her the impression that he was a teacher "who was a good listener and willing to talk to you about your interests."
She said Murdock would give her attention and flattery in class. "He gave me very high grades that I didn’t deserve," she said, including an A for a half-written essay.
He began texting her and gave her gifts of books and movies, she said.
"I wasn’t aware what was happening at the time," she said. "He would tell me explicitly that our relationship was not in any way romantic. So when I went there (to his apartment), I trusted that it wouldn’t be."
On May 14 the girl’s mother filed a petition for a temporary restraining order on behalf of her daughter, saying that on May 2 she went to his home where he offered her wine, "told me I could drink more than him" and that she was drunk when sexual contact was initiated.
Murdock invited her on the pretense of talking about books and movies, the TRO petition said.
A week after the sexual encounter, the girl reported it to police. Murdock sent disturbing messages to the girl, threatening to kill himself by cutting himself, the petition said.
Murdock also allegedly tried to get the girl to deny her story, according to the petition.
The petition says he went to her workplace May 11, waiting at the Kailua restaurant until he was repeatedly requested to leave and the manager escorted him out.
A biography of Murdock is posted online as one of the high school teachers who attended the 2012 Reynolds High School Journalism Institute at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication. It says Murdock was a "catering chef before he found his true calling as a teacher" and "has been teaching for 13 years, all at Kalaheo High School."
The biography also says Murdock was born and raised in Philadelphia and earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
In a packet for staff for the 2014-15 school year, DOE schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi included a memo dated May 5 to all DOE employees, reminding them of areas of particular concern.
It says: "DOE employees or volunteers shall not engage in any romantic, sexual and/or other inappropriate relations with a student or students.
"Inappropriate conduct includes verbal expressions, inappropriate physical contact, and/or inappropriate communications, is strictly prohibited even if the student, who is not 18 or who is 18 without capacity, consents," it reads. "Such conduct may be grounds for disciplinary action against the DOE employee, up to and including termination."
