Coakley: No City Hall crime with deleted e-mails

BOSTON (FOX 25 /myFoxBoston.com) - Attorney General Martha Coakley says she will not bring criminal charges against a Boston City Hall worker accused of deleting e-mails in a way that violated state public records law.

In a statement Thursday, the Democrat said Mayor Thomas Menino's top policy aide, Michael Kineavey, had reason to believe the e-mails were being preserved by a backup system.

She referred to a city policy handbook stating that e-mails were preserved at least three years.

Secretary of State William Galvin asked Coakley to determine whether criminal charges were warranted last October, after he determined e-mails were deleted in violation of the public records laws he is supposed to uphold.

Menino was running then for re-election, and some of the Democrat's political opponents suggested Kineavey may have been deleting e-mails to avoid release of embarrassing administration information.