Man Found Guilty Of DWI, Killing Boy Scout, Appeals Conviction

MANORVILLE, NY — The driver who was convicted in by a jury of driving drunk and killing Boy Scout Andrew McMorris, 12, in a 2018 crash — and who received the maximum sentence of eight and one-third to 25 years in prison in 2020 — is appealing the court's decision and seeking to overturn the verdict.

Andrew's family, who remains devastated by grief and who are working to affect forever change though the Andrew McMorris Foundation so that no family ever again has to suffer such profound loss, traveled to appellate court in Brooklyn Thursday, where oral arguments were held in the case of Thomas Murphy, 61, of Holbrook.

"It was such an emotional day," Alisa McMorris, Andrew's mother, said after the oral arguments. "To revisit the pain and trauma of that day was awful. It is so unreal that we have to endure this all over again. What we know — a drunk driver refused a sober ride and plowed through a line of couts on the side of the road seriously injuring Thomas Lane, injuring Denis Lane and Kaden Lynch and killing our sweet boy Andrew, traumatizing a troop and community. We are confident in the appeal. Justice has prevailed with the guilty verdict in December of 2019 and the maximum sentence was just and will be upheld. The facts speak for themselves."

Steven Politi, the Central Islip-based attorney for Murphy, said the arguments were held Thursday in the appellate division. "Now we wait for the decision on the appellate briefs," he said.

Politi accused the court and the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office of things he said demanded a reversal of the conviction, including "hiding of evidence, distortion of facts, the desire to have jurors decide the case based on sympathy and not facts, and continued prejudicial conduct," he said.

Former Suffolk County DA Tim Sini was at the helm at the time of the sentencing; current DA Raymond Tierney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Should the appeal prevail, Politi said there could be a new trial; some points in the indictment could be reversed or dismissed, he added.

Murphy, he said, "is doing poorly" behind bars. "Physically, he's not well," he said. "He's in a maximum security prison. He's a 63-year-old disabled man who's never been in trouble with the law. Can you imagine how he's doing? He's not receiving the proper medical care or nutrition that he needs. It's a very bleak situation. If we don't prevail fully on the appeal, I don't think he has much time."

He added: "It's a sad case. But the tragedy of that little boy being struck and killed is only compounded by the tragedy of an innocent man being in jail, essentially waiting to die."

Of the appeal, Politi said he is "expecting a reversal. The fight will never stop."

The battle for the McMorris family also continues as they work tirelessly for change.

"We continue to honor Andrew and parent his legacy through the Andrew McMorrisFoundation," Alisa said. They also support legislation such as the Grieving Families Act, and Andrew's Law, which was introduced by Senator Anthony Palumbo and co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio.

The bill, S6608 "amends provisions involving the arrest, prosecution, sentencing and penalties for offenses involving vehicular assault, manslaughter and homicide; and removes certain barriers to prosecution for operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol."

Exactly two years to the day that Andrew McMorris was killed, Murphy, who was convicted by a jury of driving drunk and killing Andrew in the 2018 crash, received the maximum sentence of eight and one-third to 25 years in prison.

The day was marked by tears and intense grief as members of Andrew's family, who live in Wading River, spoke about the last hours of his life, about feeling his hands grow cold and washing their boy before placing him in a body bag, then planning his funeral and burying their only son and brother.

On Sept. 30, 2018, shortly before 2 p.m., Murphy was leaving Swan Lake Golf Club to drive home after drinking alcohol since about 9 a.m., then-DA Sini said. Murphy's vehicle struck the group of Scouts, killing Andrew, seriously injuring Thomas Lane of Shoreham, and injuring Denis Lane of Shoreham and Kaden Lynch of Calverton, Sini said.

"It was Mr. Murphy's choice to drink vodka to excess on a Sunday morning," Assistant District Attorney Ray Varuolo said on the first day of the proceedings. Andrew ricocheted off the side mirror; his small, 100-pound body was "vaulted into the air," landing facedown in the grass and dirt, Varuolo said.

"His neck and spine were severed," Varuolo said. "He was decapitated internally." Describing the scene, Varuolo described screams. "Children saw their friends being tossed around like rag dolls. John McMorris saw his 12-year-old son Andrew dying."

He added, "A little boy doesn't stand a chance against a drunk driver in an SUV."

When he got out of his white Mercedes SUV, Murphy reportedly said, "Oh, s---, I'm in trouble," Varuolo said. Murphy reportedly said "Are the boys OK?" repeatedly.

Andrew died 14 hours later at 4:07 a.m. on Oct. 1, 2018.

Murphy, or "Murph" to his friends, had played just six rounds of golf before he became more interested in drinking, Varuolo said. Videos taken with his phone show him slurring his words and professing his love for his softball buddies and men he'd grown up with; he also talked about dancing that morning at the Swan Lake Golf Club, Varuolo said. One friend was so worried he asked Murphy if he could drive him home; although he knocked on the window, Murphy refused, closing the window and locking the doors, sealing the fate of the Scouts, Varuolo said.

Alisa McMorris read an impact statement that brought the courtroom to tears.

On the last day of his life, Andrew came into her room with the dog, told her it was a beautiful day, and asked to open the window. "I remember thinking, 'His voice is changing,'" she said. He got into bed for a snuggle, she said, and suddenly, he was her little boy again. "Soon, he asked, 'Is it time to get up, Mom? Is it time?'" she said. "I've replayed that moment 1,000 times. I want to go back and say, 'No.' I want to hold him. I want to stop time at 7:46 a.m."

Later, the family went to church and then headed to the hike, where Alisa took a photo of her son by the Pine Barrens sign. The hike was a big deal, she said, and she wanted to photo for the Eagle Scout album she would one day compile.

"I didn't want to leave," she said. But the day was full; Arianna, Andrew's sister, had a Girl Scout Silver Award ceremony. "I said goodbye to my men. Then I asked Andrew if he was okay, if he needed anything, and he waved. That was the last time I saw him."

Then came the phone call. There had been an accident. Andrew was hurt, she said. "I said, 'Is he breathing?'"

Her husband told her to hurry, she said; Andrew was bleeding and his legs were broken.

She recalled the terror of rushing to pick up her daughter and try to find the site. Andrew was brought to Peconic Bay Medical Center to be stabilized and later to Stony Brook University Hospital.

But she heard the words she said no parent ever should have to hear: "He has no pulse." She screamed. "Come on, Andrew! Come on, baby! Please, Andrew!"

She should have known from the faces of the group of doctors, from the words, "We have exhausted all our options," she said. "My baby boy was brain dead."

They stayed with their boy, played his favorite music, she said. Whispering to her son, she said, "My sweet boy, I'm sorry I can't fix you."

Running into the room, streaked with his blood, Alisa said her boy was so still, he seemed to be sleeping. Later that night, his hands grew cold. "I told my husband, 'He's transitioning. We have to help him.' I told him to go be with God," she said, her voice breaking.

When her boy was gone, she told the doctors that she and John wanted to wash their son and place him carefully into the body bag. "I wanted to be the last person that touched him," she said. And then, as she had so many times, she bathed her little boy, crossed his hands, and leaned down to kiss him one more time.

She said she listened to his heart, to be sure, really certain, that he wasn't breathing before she let him go.

The nights now are filled with the unimaginable, the horror she can't escape, Alisa said, images of the crash, to a place where "no one can protect my boy." Those last moments haunt, she said. She asks the questions endlessly in her heart: "Were you scared? Did you need me? Were you suffering?"

At first, Alisa said, she thought she felt sorry for Murphy, a father, a husband. "I thought, 'Why didn't someone care enough to tell you not to drive?'" Then she heard that he was offered a ride and refused; her heart dropped. "Shame on you," she said.

At the sentencing, Politi said since the day of the crash, Murphy has led an "exemplary life," not drinking, not driving, and showing up early for every scheduled court appearance.

Politi presented Camacho with 100 letters in support of Murphy. He also said Murphy, who has health problems including coronary and lung issues and diabetes, was at a high risk for COVID-19 and asked for a two-week adjournment so he could address the appellate division; that request was not granted.

As Camacho readied to sentence Murphy, Polito read a letter from his daughter, who called him "her greatest hero," a man with a huge heart. Polito said Murphy was not an evil man, as some had said, but instead, a devoted father and husband, a charitable man who organized a fundraiser the night before the crash. He had no prior criminal record, he said. He was a coach and member of his church. "This is a man who cares," he said, stating that many times during the testimony, Murphy asked how the boys were. "To say he doesn't distorts the truth."

Listing his health concerns, Polito told Camacho that anything more than the minimum sentence for Murphy could be a "death sentence."

Murphy did not make a statement on the advice of his attorney, who said they planned to appeal.

Camacho spoke before he sentenced Murphy. He said the evidence was "absolutely overwhelming" that the boys had been walking on the side of the road, supervised, and Murphy left the road and struck them. He was "driving while intoxicated, a reckless, selfish act that took the life of this beautiful 12-year old boy," he said. "So much pain, so much suffering. People in this community are broken because of Mr. Murphy's actions."

Murphy left a trail of tears, "death, destruction, suffering and pain," Camacho said.

He added that Murphy had led a decent life and was a decent man. "The message that needs to go out is that there have to be consequences, even for decent people that cause so much pain and suffering," he said.

To Murphy, Andrew's father John McMorris, in an emotional statement, said: "Andrew didn't die that day. He was stolen from us. He was ripped from us ... because Mr. Murphy made the despicable and selfish choice to drive drunk. If I had to sum it up in one word: Avoidable."

Murphy was convicted by a jury on Dec. 18, 2019, of aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony; second-degree manslaughter, a felony; second-degree assault, a violent felony; second-degree vehicular assault, a felony; two counts of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor; and reckless driving, a misdemeanor.