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Judge tosses murder conviction in Mattapan group-murder case; DA to appeal

A man whose second-degree murder conviction last week would have sent him away for life at a state prison will now spend just two and a half years in a county jail, a Suffolk Superior Court judge decided today.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office said it would appeal Judge Janet Sanders decision to vacate the jury's murder conviction of Abdullah Yasin for the death of Chaz Burton at a Mattapan party in 2016.

Sanders left in place the jury's verdict of guilty on a charge of assault and battery for stomping Burton's head, along with a similar verdict for Fabian Llano, whom she also sentenced to two and a half years in jail. Both men were originally charged with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors charge the two men and Burton were at a River Street party when an argument turned violent and several men began beating Burton before somebody shot him. Yasin and Llano were charged with stomping Burton's head as he lay dying.

Another man, Benjamin Tate, 25, faces trial for first-degree murder in the case. Five other people also face trial, later this year, on lesser charges. A sixth person had previously pleaded guilty.

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Comments

What was Sanders' rationale here I wonder? Seems they could have easily been convicted of first degree murder under the joint venture theory. They were already getting off pretty easy....not easy enough for this judge I guess.

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What the news did not report was that the victim in this case, Mr. Burton, had 3 prior cases involving criminal assaults, one being a very similar knife attack that almost killed a co-worker. Video showed Mr. Burton chasing people with a knife (including women and children) out of the building and then back inside, where someone shot him. The defendants raised self-defense / defense of another claims; the entire trial ended up being about even the prosecution witnesses describing their fear as Mr. Burton's manic knife attack until he was shot. He died instantly, so the kicking as described above did not cause death. This was an assault case, not a murder. This was a gross overcharge by a frustrated ADA who admitted she knew neither defendant was the shooter, neither one was armed that night with a weapon, neither had a serious criminal record of any kind.

No evidence ever presented of ID of the shooter so the state's junky, lazy case got tossed.

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Thanks for knowing the Law because one is MY Nephew who did not deserve to be charged just at the wrong place at the wrong time

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Did the judge give any rationale for vacating the guilty verdict?

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Is this not the same judge who just spoke out about a plea deal for a Rapist from MIT that she felt was being given to much leniency for his crime and she just gave these murders a get out of jail free card wow

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Violent crime sure is lightly punished here in the great state of MA.

Too bad that was not fixed under the new criminal justice reform bills.

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