Reilly stepped into probe of fatal accident

Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, stepping into the investigation of a crash that killed two daughters of a friend, urged the Worcester district attorney not to release records that may have revealed whether the girls had been drinking.

Northborough Police Chief Mark Leahy told the Associated Press yesterday that his investigation was stymied by the district attorney's refusal to share the autopsy reports with his department. Leahy's department was investigating whether the teenagers had been illegally served liquor. Under Massachusetts' so-called social-host law, anyone who serves alcohol to a minor may be criminally charged.

''I was certainly surprised by the involvement of the AG's office," Leahy told the AP. ''They don't ordinarily get involved in these matters."

Reilly, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, acknowledged yesterday that he called Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte to urge him to keep the records private. But Reilly said he did it to protect the grieving family from publicity, because members of the news media were seeking the records.

''I called the district attorney and certainly was aware [of] this situation, was following [it]. . . . These are private medical records, and they were not public records and should not be released," Reilly said last night on ''Greater Boston" on WGBH-TV.

Asked about his involvement, Reilly added: ''I've had many conversations with district attorneys on cases, but, first and foremost, it was the family and the suffering they'd gone [through]. This shouldn't have even gotten this far; this family suffered enough."

Killed in the Oct. 13 accident were Shauna Murphy, 17, and Meghan Murphy, 15, of Southborough. The girl's father, Christopher Murphy, is a friend of Reilly's, according to Reilly's office, and he donated $300 to Reilly's campaign last June.

A man who identified himself as Christopher Murphy declined to comment when reached by telephone last night. Leahy, the Northborough police chief, also did not return phone messages left by the Globe yesterday.

Although the accident occurred in Southborough, Northborough police were investigating whether the teenagers had obtained liquor in Northborough just before the crash. Leahy told the Associated Press that his investigators believed that the teenagers had been drinking, based on second-hand information.

Reilly said that he ''never spoke to the family about this at all, but I did decide that those toxicology reports were their records, the records of their children, and they should be protected, their privacy should be protected."

''I wish people, I wish the media, would just leave it alone," he said.

In an interview yesterday, Conte said Reilly called him in the last month to discuss the requests by the news media to release the records. He said Reilly did not discuss the issue of giving the reports to Northborough police.

Conte said he had already concluded that state law prevented him from releasing the records. Conte said that by law he cannot comment on autopsy reports, including whether alcohol was found in the girls' blood.

''I can't release them, because they are not public records," Conte told the Globe. He said he can only release the records to a family member, not to the news media.

Conte said he saw no need to share the autopsy reports with police, since both his office's investigation and the reports that he had seen from the Northborough police showed no evidence that a crime of supplying liquor to a minor could be proven.

''We had, at the time, reports of furnishing liquor to minors, but we decided that would not [fly]," Conte told the Globe, saying a criminal case could not be proven. ''Subsequently, we have obtained reports of the investigation by Northborough police, and those indicate that charge cannot be substantiated."

Asked whether the investigation would continue, Conte said: ''I don't see any further purpose."

He also said he found nothing unusual about the call from Reilly. ''It's a very casual relationship," he said, when asked if he was surprised by the attorney general's call. Reilly had served two terms as district attorney in neighboring Middlesex County before being elected attorney general in 1998.

The two teenagers were killed when their sport utility vehicle, traveling 59 miles an hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone, slammed into a pole at about 1 a.m. on Oct. 13. They had been watching a baseball playoff game earlier. The two were students at Algonquin Regional High School. A third passenger, Melissa Smith, 15, of Northborough was injured in the crash. There were no signs of alcohol at the scene.

Emily LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, agreed with Conte that autopsy reports are not public records. The district attorney typically releases information on the cause and manner of deaths being investigated by the office, she said.