Patrick leaving convention for funeral

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick is planning to leave the Democratic National Convention tonight and return to Massachusetts to attend a funeral Tuesday morning for a soldier from Mashpee.

Patrick will likely miss the start of the convention, which includes a tribute to Senator Edward M. Kennedy and a primetime speech by Michelle Obama. But he is expected to return to Denver tomorrow afternoon, in time for his speech to the convention Tuesday night.

Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray is also planning to return to Massachusetts tonight, and will join the governor at the funeral tomorrow for Army Private First Class Paul E. Conlon, Jr., 21, a 2005 Mashpee High School graduate who was killed Aug. 15 in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan while riding in a Humvee.