Update: Former Heights Police Chief Responds to Homewood Man's Acquittal

Updated at 4:05 p.m. on Oct. 19, 2012 to include comments from former Chicago Heights Police Chief Anthony Murphy.

A Homewood man charged with attempted murder after a fight at the Tender Trap in Chicago Heights was found innocent Thursday at the Markham Courthouse.

Matthew Carnes' legal defense has maintained he was acting in self-defense and protecting his brother, Derek Carnes, after he was accused of using a knife to cut the neck of William Murphy, the nephew of former Heights Police Chief Anthony Murphy, in the March 2008 brawl, according to Sun-Times Media.

Anthony Murphy, now a member of the Bloom Township High School District 206 Board of Education, did not want to say much about the verdict, but noted that he and his family would like to move on.

"I think it's over and I think we can just put this behind us," Murphy said.

The brawl started inside the Tender Trap, at 109 N. Halsted St., and spilled in the parking lot. Michael Murphy admitted to driving his car through a crowd of people after Matthew Carnes allegedly swung a handsaw at his friend, Jason Baksas. During the brawl William Murphy felt what turned out to be the cut on his neck and passed out. He was treated at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields.

The former chief's son, Michael Murphy, who was a key witness in the case, said he was knocked unconscious during the brawl and never actually saw Carnes cut William Murphy's throat. William Murphy and Baksas also were not able to see who had the knife, according to Sun-Times media. 

Murphy said he suffered permanent nerve damage from the cut and no longer has full use of his left arm.

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