La Jolla

The survivors of murdered La Jolla attorney Richard Crake filed a $15-million lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. government, alleging that the U.S. Marshals Service was responsible for the acts of a deputy marshal who obtained Crake’s address for the man convicted of arranging his killing.

Kathryn Crake and her children say the actions of James Murphy, who was relieved of his duties as a marshal after revealing his role in the case, were “the proximate cause” of Crake’s murder in May, 1981.

Insurance executive Herman Martin, a protected federal witness given a new identity and relocated to California by the Marshals Service after testifying against East Coast racketeers, was convicted in 1982 of masterminding Crake’s murder. The two men had been engaged in a heated legal dispute over a $100,000 debt.

Murphy testified during Martin’s preliminary hearing in October, 1981, that he used official Justice Department sources to obtain Crake’s unlisted home address from the phone company at Martin’s request. He said Martin, a personal friend, told him he needed the address to serve legal papers on Crake.

According to testimony at his trial, Martin later arranged for Andrew Powell, an employee of his insurance agency, to go to Crake’s house and beat up the lawyer. When Crake resisted, Powell bludgeoned him to death with a gun.

Powell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified against Martin.

The lawsuit alleges that Murphy obtained Crake’s address from the phone company without a warrant and without any legitimate law-enforcement purpose--an act the suit describes as “a common and allowed practice” of the Marshals Service office in San Diego.

Martin remains in custody, though a retired appellate court judge investigating his case on behalf of the state Supreme Court has found that he was wrongly convicted and has recommended his release.