In 1988, the shocking death of a police trainee and the hospitalization of at least 10 others from injuries they suffered at a State Police-run academy led the attorney general’s office to turn to a rarely used legal process: a public judicial inquest.
Now, a week after trainee Enrique Delgado-Garcia died at the State Police Academy, advocates have urged state authorities to consider that type of investigation again, amid calls for transparency in the probe into how he suffered fatal injuries during training in a boxing ring.
State authorities said other options remain on the table as well, and the ACLU of Massachusetts called for federal investigators to intervene. But legal experts said a judicial inquest, with hearings in open court led by a judge, could be a sure way to provide an accountable process.
“It can be used to assure the public that there’s been a thorough look into this and whether criminal charges can be brought,’’ said Tom Merrigan, a retired District Court judge.
In an inquest into a death, a judge hears testimony and gathers evidence over what can be weeks of hearings, and then decides whether to recommend whether criminal charges should be filed.
Talks among local, state, and federal authorities continue over who should take control of the investigation into the 25-year-old Delgado-Garcia’s death, according to the Worcester district attorney’s office. That office has jurisdiction over deaths in New Braintree, where the academy is now located, but Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said he would step aside because Delgado-Garcia was a former victim witness advocate under him, creating a conflict of interest.
Michael Wilcox, an attorney who has been tapped to represent the Delgado-Garcia family, declined to take a position on the specifics on what form the investigation should take but said the family wants answers.
“All the family wants to see happen is to have a thorough, impartial investigation, and the facts, as they exist, be revealed,’’ said Wilcox. Asked if the family is considering civil action, he said that determination would not be made “until we have a much clearer picture about what occurred.’’
Worcester-based civil rights attorney Hector E. Pineiro told the Globe that “a judicial inquest would be an opportunity for the public to know what happened inside the academy.’’
Typically, criminal investigations and discussions over whether to bring charges are conducted behind closed doors. Many prosecutor’s offices have policies barring them from talking about investigations in which no charges have been brought, and Supreme Judicial Court case law also sets restrictions on what can be discussed publicly.
Merrigan said the public process of a judicial inquest “can be used to help the district attorney, and in this case the attorney general, reassure the public that if nothing is done, it’s been sanctioned by an independent review.’’
Though the process is rare, prosecutors in recent years have increasingly used inquests to probe some police shootings. In Reading in 2020, for instance, a judicial inquest that Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan requested led to the indictment of police Officer Erik Drauschke. A Middlesex Superior Court jury later acquitted Drauschke of manslaughter.
Last year, Ryan sought an inquest into the Cambridge police shooting of a 20-year-old college student. A judge ultimately found the officer had acted reasonably, and Ryan’s office did not bring any charges.
The investigation into the 1988 death of Pittsfield police recruit Timothy Shepard did run into complications. Shepard and the others were hospitalized that September with liver and kidney problems caused by dehydration, and Shepard underwent a liver transplant and lapsed into a coma. Attorney General James Shannon found that the recruits had been given a “wholly inadequate’’ amount of fluids for their grueling training at the facility in Agawam but that the evidence did not support criminal charges. Shepard died a few days after Shannon’s decision.
After Shepard’s death, Shannon sought the judicial inquest, saying the family required a full explanation of what had happened. The inquest involved 15 days of hearings over two months and included the testimony of 66 witnesses. Ultimately, the judge found probable cause to support three charges of involuntary manslaughter.
But the attorney general said the judge had reached the wrong conclusions and refused to bring charges. An appeals court later upheld Shannon’s decision.
Delgado-Garcia was set to graduate next month from the academy in New Braintree, where aspiring troopers are put through a six-month training program designed to test their physical and mental endurance, before he suffered fatal injuries during what has been described as defense tactic training in a boxing ring. He was rushed to a hospital Sept. 12 and died the following day.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the physical examination of Delgado-Garcia’s body was complete, “but additional testing continues to assist with the determination of cause and manner of death.’’ The exact timing of the results of an autopsy varies, but most are completed within 90 days, according to the medical examiner’s office.
A spokesperson for Early said Friday the district attorney has been in contact with four entities that span local, state, and federal levels of government about taking control of the investigation.
“Decisions regarding next steps in the investigation, including whether to gather evidence in a legal forum such as an inquest, will be the decision of whoever accepts the case,’’ said Lindsay Corcoran, Early’s spokesperson. “As the district attorney said, he is looking to send this case to someone who will give it an independent review and who has no stake in the outcome of the matter.’’
Early has said he doesn’t believe another district attorney’s office should handle the investigation. Attorney General Andrea Campbell confirmed her office has been in contact with Early.
“I’m in conversation with the Worcester district attorney and many other appointing authorities, and continuing to do my due diligence and hope to make a decision very soon to appoint a prosecuting authority that will not have a conflict, will be independent, objective, and, most importantly, be a contact for that family to go to as an investigation unfolds,’’ Campbell told reporters on Thursday evening. She declined to put a specific timeline on the decision.
On Thursday, Governor Maura Healey, a former attorney general, told reporters the decision on next steps “needs to happen. It needs to happen quickly, so, most importantly, the family has answers.’’
One key factor on how to proceed will be whether Campbell’s office believes it could be seen as conflicted in investigating the State Police, said former Middlesex district attorney Gerry Leone, who at one point headed the criminal bureau in the attorney general’s office. State Police are assigned to the attorney general’s office to serve as its investigators, as they also are for district attorneys across the state.
If Campbell decides it would be prudent to transfer the investigation to a third party, he said, “In that instance, you usually pivot to the federal side.’’ That could involve the US attorney’s office and the FBI, or an inspector general, said Leone, a former federal prosecutor.
Another option, he said, would be for the attorney general’s office to appoint a special prosecutor and investigator.
On Friday, three Worcester-area state senators, Michael Moore, Robyn Kennedy, and Peter Durant, sent Campbell a letter requesting that she appoint a special assistant attorney general to investigate circumstances around Delgado-Garcia’s death. They said the prosecutor should issue a public report and also make recommendations for changes to policy, practices, and culture at the State Police, where the academy culture is being scrutinized.
The ACLU of Massachusetts called on federal authorities to take the reins.
“After more than a week, Massachusetts law enforcement agencies have yet to launch an independent investigation,’’ legal director Jessie Rossman said in a statement. “Because the State Police are embedded in every major law enforcement agency in the Commonwealth, it appears there is currently no state-level law enforcement agency in a position to do so.’’
Matt Stout, Mandy McLaren, and Jeremiah Manion of the Globe staff contributed to this report.