Thomas Murphy, convicted in DWI crash that killed Boy Scout Andrew McMorris, seeks new trial

Convicted drunken driver Thomas Murphy is seeking a new trial, arguing that misconduct by prosecutors and judicial bias prejudiced the Suffolk jury that convicted him of aggravated vehicular homicide in the 2018 Manorville crash that claimed the life of 12-year-old Boy Scout Andrew McMorris.

Richard Mischel, the New York City attorney handling the Holbrook resident’s appeal, told a four-judge panel of the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division in Brooklyn Thursday that Acting Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho allowed emotions to play into the jury’s verdict before handing down the maximum sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.

“This is not a repeat offender, somebody who's callous, who's doing DWIs over and over and over again and warrants the harshest treatment,” Mischel argued during the 45-minute appearance attended by the McMorris family and Murphy’s wife. He noted that Murphy had no criminal history before his arrest for driving after consuming alcohol while playing golf with friends, leaving his lane of travel and striking four of the Scouts hiking along the shoulder of David Terry Road.

The panel of justices focused on two points raised in the appeal as they heard summary arguments and questioned the attorneys: the severity of the sentence and whether prosecutors played to juror emotions in the statements they made and witnesses they called.

Associate Justice Colleen Duffy, noting lead prosecutor Brendan Ahern’s use of words like “mangled” in reference to McMorris’ body after the crash and references to the “screams” of the Scouts, said the panel is tasked with having to decide if the prosecutor’s statements “comply with the law.”

“Although the prosecutor says initially, ‘What we asked you to do is not decide the case on emotion,’ there's a whole line of statements that absolutely play to emotion,” Duffy told the attorneys. “We have to determine whether or not it is fair, whether [the jury] viewed the evidence in a way that they were able to put aside emotions.”

Timothy Finnerty of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Appeals Bureau said that while some prosecutorial comments “could have been better phrased,” the case presented “unique facts and circumstances” and involved the death of one child and injuries to three more.

“Nothing the prosecutors said was so egregious, so beyond the line of decency,” Finnerty told the panel.

Other points raised in the appeal argue insufficient evidence to establish reckless driving, a required element of aggravated vehicular homicide; that Murphy’s rights to a fair trial were violated when the “irrelevant and inflammatory” testimony of a blood-alcohol content expert was allowed; and that a blood warrant should have been suppressed because prosecutors lacked probable cause.

Mischel said it was bias on the part of Camacho that led to the evidence being allowed. He argued Murphy’s sentence was more in line with someone who might have left the scene of a crash, a claim Justice Debra Dowling pushed back on, saying the sentence could have been issued consecutively for each count in the case.

Camacho, who now serves on a state panel that reviews judicial complaints, could not be immediately reached for comment.

In a statement, Ahern, who left the district attorney’s office following the 2021 election, said “the pursuit of justice for the victims and their families is of the utmost importance” to him.

“As such, I will refrain from further comment until a decision is made by the justices, but certainly I stand by the work of the District Attorney’s office in this tragic case,” Ahern said.

Alisa and John McMorris of Wading River, the parents of Andrew, said they continue to appreciate the work of prosecutors to find justice for their son and his injured friends.

“We've already been through hell and back and we’re having to go through hell again,” Alisa McMorris said. “We've walked the worst road of our life and continue to do that. And it's like we're being dragged right back into it all over again. I have always taught my children that when you do wrong, you admit to it and you serve your consequence.”

Mischel likened the Murphy case to that of Ann Marie Drago, a Camacho trial that led to an overturned conviction when the same court ruled, in part, that a prosecutor evoked sympathy from the jury by referring to her as a “grieving mother.” Drago, who was initially convicted of killing anti-gang activist Evelyn Rodriguez by driving over her on the same Brentwood street where her daughter was allegedly killed by MS-13 gang members, is expected to be tried again later this year.

Steven Politi, who represented Murphy at trial, said he hopes his client will be afforded the same opportunity.

“He deserves a fair trial by a judge who is not biased, by a jury who is not going to cave to [the judge’s] sympathies,” Politi said, adding that his 62-year-old client is in poor health and struggling to adjust to life at the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility. “It's just a convergence of many, many tragedies at one time, and both families are suffering.”

Politi said a decision on the appeal could come within the next month.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.