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Mass. high court overturns conviction in 2014 parade shooting
The state's highest court on Tuesday vacated the murder conviction of a man accused of shooting two people during a parade in 2014.
Keith Williams was convicted of murdering Dawnn Jaffier and shooting Lealah Fulton during the 2014 J’ouvert celebration in Dorchester.
The court’s decision focused on expert testimony involving gunshot residue. Williams and two other people were tested for residue. Two "particles" of residue were found on Williams, and none on the others. An expert said a positive identification requires at least three particles, yet prosecutors used the presence of the two particles as evidence Williams was the shooter.
"Because this error was prejudicial in the circumstances here, the defendant is entitled to a new trial on his convictions of murder in the first degree, armed assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon," the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision states.
During the trial, witnesses said Williams was one of three men who got into an argument with another group on the morning of the shooting. Following that dispute, one of the three allegedly fired a handgun, which struck bystanders Jaffier and Fulton. Prosecutors said witness descriptions pointed toward Williams as the shooter.
Another witness described seeing the men dispose of a gun nearby. Police found a gun in that area, and later testing showed it had fired the shots that struck the victims.
This is the second murder conviction stemming from the 2014 shooting that the high court has sent back for retrial. In 2021 the court ruled there was not enough evidence to convict Wesson Colas, who reportedly pointed a handgun at Willams during the incident but did not fire a shot. His attorneys had argued there was no evidence he had a gun at all, and that witnesses may have mistaken his cell phone for a weapon.