Dorchester man pleads guilty to murdering neighbor with shotgun

By pleading guilty to the second-degree murder of JoJo Smith, Patrick Mayhew, 22, could walk out of prison in 15 years. He had been facing life without parole if he had gone to trial and been found guilty of first-degree murder.

At his sentencing today, Smith's family said they forgave Mayhew and hoped he will use his time behind bars to improve himself.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office charged that Mayhew, for reasons still unknown, got out a shotgun on June 21, 2007 and blasted Smith in the shoulder and lower back, leaving Smith mortally wounded as he fled - he was arrested in Chicopee.