Dorchester man convicted of murdering his brother in a dispute over drugs in 2000

A Suffolk Superior Court jury yesterday convicted Timi Wallace, 44, of second-degree murder for the drug-related shooting death of his brother, Tasfa Wallace, on Levant Street on March 26, 2000, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Wallace will be sentenced today to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years. He is already serving a 25-year federal prison sentence for robbing a Rhode Island gun store with a third brother, Nickoyan.

Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight and Philip Cheng presented evidence and testimony over the course of four days proving Wallace’s participation in Tasfa Wallace’s homicide. He was observed directly outside Tasfa Wallace’s apartment, moments before the victim was shot multiple times through the apartment’s front door in what prosecutors argued was the culmination of a drug-related dispute, and he was observed leaving the building immediately after the shooting. Among the witnesses at trial was the now-retired detective who was the lead investigator on the 17-year-old murder.

Nickoyan Wallace was also initially charged with the murder, but the charge was dismissed because prosecutors did not bring him to trial fast enough. Nickoyan was arrested in 2000, Tasfa in 2004.