Twelve years ago, Jayme “Dusty” Murphy, then 17, thought satan told him to torch a church near Williamstown, Kentucky. So he and some friends tried to do just that. After serving 39 months of a 5-year jail sentence, Murphy, aka “Reverend Dred,” is now the lead singer of a Christian heavy metal band called Datum Point. He’s also an ordained Pentecostal minister. Here’s the kicker, from a profile in the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Murphy acknowledges he still struggles with demons that haunted his youth, but says faith has relieved his fears. As for the workaday world, he says the next step toward escaping his felonious past is a petition to get his gun-owning rights restored.
“I have a 12-year-old daughter and it won’t be that long before she’ll be dating,” he says. “I want to be cleaning a gun when the guy comes to pick her up.”
“Rocker considers prison time a blessing” (Thanks, Gil Kaufman!)