Dwayne Moore, accused of killing three adults and a 2-year-old boy on a Mattapan street in 2010, was found guilty Monday on more than half the counts against him, ensuring that he will be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
But jurors acquitted Moore of three lesser charges, suggesting to some that the jurors may have had doubts about whether he pulled the trigger in what is deemed one of the worst killings in the city’s recent history.
Comments
His lawyer messed up on this one, should never have gone with an out of county jury. Suffolk County jurors never convict.
Huh. I was on a Suffolk County jury, and we did convict.
You are in the VAST minority.
Excerpts from the article leave me with grave doubts that the prosecution nailed the right man.
Please read these amd judge for yourself.
“Dwayne Moore has vociferously denied any involvement in the crime,” he said. “I’m deeply disappointed in the decision of the jury.”Comment: His lawyer seems passionately convinced he was not the murderer.
The jury, in delivering Monday’s split verdict, acquitted Moore in the attempted murder of Marcus Hurd, who was shot in the back of the head but survived. The panel also acquitted Moore of unlawful possession of a firearm, and aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon. Comment: They acquit him of one muder but hang him for the rest. Does this make sense?
Moore was inconsistent, telling police at first that he was nowhere near the murder scene. In his second interview, he told detectives he was there, standing on the porch of Martin’s house, but that he left before anyone was shot.
Conley said he believed those conflicting statements, which were not introduced during the first trial, might have helped persuade jurors uncertain about Moore’s guilt. Comment: Read the above!!!!
There was no physical evidence tying Moore to the crimes. Neither his fingerprints nor his DNA were found on one of the guns recovered or the safe that was stolen from Martin’s house. Comment: What? No physical evidence?
As in the first trial, prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of Kimani Washington, a 37-year-old career criminal who admitted to playing a role in the armed robbery, but said he left before the shootings took place. He testified against Moore in exchange for a recommendation of a sentence of 16 to 18 years on armed robbery charges. Amabile argued that Kimani Washington lied about leaving the scene before the shootings, suggesting that he had killed the victims.
But the acquittal on the gun charges and the charges that he assaulted Hurd could suggest the jury did not believe Moore held the murder weapon. Comment: And they convict him??
Michael Doolin, a Dorchester criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, said that the split verdict indicates that the jury may not have felt prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Moore fired the weapon that killed the victims.
I should have said "attempted murder."
I should have said "attempted murder."