Crash report cites alcohol; Romney, Reilly swap accusations on case

A police report on a car crash that killed two Southborough sisters says that the 17-year-old girl at the wheel of the vehicle appeared intoxicated and was playing a drinking game at a party with 15 or 20 other young people just before the accident.

The report, released yesterday by Northborough police hours after Governor Mitt Romney and Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly traded accusations over the politically charged case, quotes Northborough Police Chief Mark Leahy as telling prosecutors he believed his investigators had a case for what he described as ''allowing" a minor to consume alcohol.

Witnesses told police that Shauna Murphy, 17, brought vodka with her when she arrived at the Oct. 12 party with her sister, Meghan, 15, and a third teenager; the sisters died in an accident about 2 1/2 hours later. The report identifies the host of the party as Nathaniel Berberian, 20, of Northborough and says that it appeared he was ''in control of the house" where the party occurred and ''allowed underaged persons to drink."

A woman who identified herself as Berberian's mother said in a brief telephone interview yesterday that ''he did not supply any alcohol." Berberian and three witnesses also told police that he did not provide alcohol to the teenagers, according to the police report.

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said he has determined there is insufficient evidence to bring charges in the case. Northborough police said yesterday that they had closed the investigation after hearing from Conte.

The case has taken on political implications because Reilly, who is a friend of the girls' parents, acknowledged Wednesday that he had called Conte to urge him to not release to the news media an autopsy report that would have determined blood alcohol levels. Reilly, who is running for governor, said he wanted to spare the Murphy family further publicity.

Leahy, the Northborough police chief, put a different light on Reilly's involvement, telling the Associated Press earlier this week that the attorney general's involvement was unusual. Leahy also told the AP that Conte's office had not released the autopsy reports to police.

Yesterday, Romney and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey both said that Reilly's telephone call to Conte appeared to be an attempt to stifle an investigation by the Northborough Police Department. Romney said the attorney general's action contradicts recent efforts on Beacon Hill to crack down on drunk driving.

''Hushing up of circumstances or giving the appearance that there will be a hushing up of circumstance is something which I think suggests that the attorney general may not have gotten the message that is emanating from this building," Romney told a State House press conference, which had been called for another topic.

Speaking to reporters at his own press conference after Romney's, Reilly said that when he called Conte he was only concerned that the autopsy reports not be released to the media and the public. He denied that he interfered in the investigation or had asked that autopsy results be withheld from the police chief. ''He [Leahy] is free to pursue his investigation," he said. ''I have nothing to do with that. I have never spoken to the man."

''I never did anything to hamper . . . or stop any investigation," Reilly said. He said he has over the course of his career made similar calls to protect the privacy of families. When pressed, he would not detail those circumstances.

The attorney general, with tears welling up in his eyes, also, suggested that Healey and Romney were making the case a political issue. ''I'm horrified by anybody's effort to politicize this," Reilly said. He did not name Romney or Healey, but his spokesman said later he was referring to the governor and lieutenant governor's statements.

Reilly opened his press conference by reading a statement from the Murphy family. ''Our family is living through the most unbearable grief after the tragic loss of our beautiful young daughters," Christopher Murphy and his family said in the statement. ''We hurt every minute of every day. We ask the media and our elected officials to respect our right to privacy and not add to our burden by politicizing our girls' deaths."

David Guarino, Reilly's spokesman, said last night that the attorney general was not aware of the police report that the Murphy girls had been drinking, adding that he has not been involved in the details of the case, other than to express concern over the release of the autopsy reports.

The police report released to the Globe yesterday provides the first thorough account of the night of drinking that led up to the fatal accident. Previously, the AP had reported that police investigators believed the teenagers had been drinking.

The police report drew no conclusions how the teenage girls obtained alcohol, but said that Shauna Murphy possessed a license belonging to another Massachusetts woman who was over 21. The woman was not identified in the report.

Under the state's so-called social host law, anyone who serves alcohol to a minor may be criminally charged.

Leahy, the Northborough police chief, said in the police report that Conte, the district attorney, told him yesterday that the department ''did not have sufficient evidence" to pursue a charge of ''furnishing alcohol to a minor."

''I expressed my beliefs that we had a case for 'allowing' a minor to consume alcohol under this section," Leahy said in the report. ''Mr. Conte advised that we did not have a 'prima facie' case upon which he could move forward, and that his office would not seek any criminal charges."

Asked if he was disappointed by that decision, Leahy told the Globe: ''I am not disappointed. This is my job. It's not a personal crusade."

Conte said yesterday that investigations into underage drinking and supplying alcohol to minors are normally conducted by local police and that he became involved only because Leahy asked him to review the findings. ''If he wants to pursue it further, he may," Conte told the Globe.

State Representative Frank M. Hynes, a Democrat from Marshfield, who sponsored the social host statute, said the bill was designed to discourage people from providing a ''safe haven" for teenagers to drink at their homes.

''If there is a suggestion that kids have been drinking and there has been an accident and someone is hurt or killed, we really have an obligation to find who the source of that drinking was and prosecute that," Hynes said.

The police report released yesterday said that the night unfolded as about 15 to 20 people gathered at Berberian's house to watch a playoff baseball game.

In the report, several witnesses who attended the party described Shauna Murphy, the 17-year-old driver, as obviously intoxicated. Berberian described Shauna Murphy as drunk when she arrived at his house around 10:30 p.m. He told police she brought vodka with her in a Poland Spring water bottle, later recovered by police, and drank it with orange juice.

Maria Cramer of the Globe staff contributed to this report.