Boston: no charges in e-mail destruction case.

• Position: GOVERNMENT RECORDS

After a nine-month investigation into e-mail destruction by a top aide to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, prosecutors have determined that charges are not warranted because there was no criminal intent.

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Prosecutors from Attorney General Martha Coakley concluded that the destruction of tens of thousands of e-mails by Michael Kineavy, Menino's chief of policy and planning, was not a criminal offense because his actions were not a deliberate attempt to hide information or evade the state public records law, The Boston Globe reported.

Kineavy deleted almost every email he sent and received over a five-year period. The law requires city employees to preserve e-mails for a minimum of two years, even if they have "no informational or evidential value," and allows for punishment of up to one year in jail.

According to a statement from Coakley:

"Our investigation revealed that during the time Mr. Kineavy was accused of improperly deleting e-mails, the city's own policies indicated that all e-mails were being saved on a backup server and specifically encouraged employees to delete e-mails on a daily basis. It also revealed a shared misunderstanding by many City Hall employees that e-mails were being backed up on the city's server."

Consequently, the attorney general could not find evidence that Kineavy had destroyed his e-mails deliberately and so could not support criminal charges in the case.

In a statement, Menino said the report shows...