Paleontologist's sentence includes jail time

Amateur paleontologist Nate Murphy has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and fined $2,500 for stealing a raptor fossil from a ranch near Malta. Phillips County District Judge John McKeon imposed the sentence last week in Malta, even though a plea agreement recommended no jail time. The jail term is one of the conditions of a five-year deferred sentence ordered by McKeon, during which time Murphy is to be on probation. That means that if he fails to live up to the terms and conditions imposed by the judge, his probation could be revoked and he could go to prison for five years. Murphy, 51, pleaded guilty to the felony theft charge in March, and he is to be sentenced July 9 on a separate charge of stealing fossils from federal land, to which he also pleaded guilty. Billings Gazette