RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — Four charges are expected to be dropped against a man accused of driving drunk and killing a Boy Scout in Suffolk County last year.
The judge who is presiding over the Thomas Murphy case indicated that four of the 16 charges will be dropped against the 60 year old. They are aggravated vehicular homicide, DWI, vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault.
This all stems from the testimony of a doctor from the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office, suggesting that Murphy's blood alcohol level was below 0.18.
Prosecutors have been saying the level was 0.19. But this number was reached through a scientific technique using Murphy's blood four hours after the crash that claimed the life of 12-year-old Andrew McMorris, who was struck and killed while hiking with his Boy Scout troop in Manorville on Sept. 30, 2018.
The doctor noted Murphy's BAC may have been as low as 0.178 and the judge said the charges were not "legally sustainable."
Murphy's attorney Steven Politi says there should have been a mistrial.
"And it should be with prejudice, you're not allowed to do this, this isn't how you prosecute people, this isn't a game where you hide evidence, this isn't a game where you make things up," said Politi. "Guess work, junk science, unprovable, they never have enough factors to prove it."
Despite the fact that Murphy apologized for his “role” in the child’s death, Politi insists he was not drunk at the time of the crash.
“I'm saying, 100%, my client was not intoxicated. No witness is going to be able to come into this courtroom and testify that a 350-pound man, based upon the amount of alcohol they're going to allege, say that that would make my client intoxicated,” his attorney said at the start of the trial earlier this month.
For Alisa McMorris, Andrew’s mother, this marked another difficult and sad day.
"He knows what he did, he knows that he's guilty," she said while holding photos of her son. "None of this means anything, at the end of it I still don't get my child back."