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Dorchester, Mattapan murder suspects say they didn't do it; held without bail

UPDATE: Charge in Williams case formally withdrawn.

Through his attorney, Kevin Williams says he had no reason to murder Jose Luis Phinn Williams in a Codman Square gas station Friday night: He'd just gotten paid at his job at a Taunton Jiffy Lube and he was getting ready to help his family move from Dorchester to the South Shore the next morning.

At his arraignment in Dorchester Municipal Court this morning, Kevin Williams stood hidden behind a thick court door that prevented Jose Williams's relatives, community members and a number of BPD officers and detectives from seeing him. He listened as his attorney, Aviva Jeruchim, told Judge Jonathan Tynes that location data from Williams's cell phone would exonerate her client, a 21-year-old Quincy high-school graduate whom she said had no criminal record.

She added she is also confident her client will not show up in video from any of the numerous surveillance cameras around the courthouse and the gas station just across a side street.

Jeruchim asked for bail of $20,000, saying his family was also in court and would guarantee his appearances.

Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Jennifer Hickman, however, said that not only did a witness place Kevin Williams at the murder scene inside the Fabian gas station - where he allegedly shot the 67-year-old father of two in the chest - but he then identified Williams not long after at Dorchester Avenue and Centre Street, where police had stopped him based on a radio description from the shooting scene.

Tynes ordered Kevin Williams held without bail due to the seriousness of the charge.

In a separate hearing, Tynes also ordered Kai Harris, 26, of Brockton, held without bail for the murder of Terrell White, 36, on Itasca Street in Mattapan around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

in a courtroom packed with relatives of both the suspect and the victim - separated on either side by a large contingent of court officers - Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Julie Higgins said Harris fatally shot White, then fled in a car.

Boston Police officers on routine patrol nearby heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene, she said. As one gave medical aid to the dying White, the other chased the car. Not long after, officers stopped the red Honda and arrested Harris.

Harris's attorney, Eduardo Masferrer, did not dispute that his client was at the scene, but said he was innocent of the murder - the killer, he said, was in the back seat, while Harris was the driver.

Higgins said Harris has a record that includes convictions for armed robbery and assault and battery in Boston Municipal Court. He also has a conviction for assault and battery with a gun in Dorchester Municipal Court, was released on probation, but then defaulted on his probation, she said.

Jose Williams and White were two of the five people shot to death between Friday and Sunday. Suspects have not been arrested for the other three murders.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

If you need a gun to make a names for yourself. Wait until judgement day. I feel sorry for your mother !!!

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the first case will depend on surveillance data

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Is that first charge based on just an eyewitness?

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It sounds like there was a witness who described the suspect at the scene and he was picked up a few blocks away a short time later based on that. His lawyer says cell phone location data will exonerate him but that very well could place him at the scene. I imagine it will have to wait for the subpoena of phone records and other surveillance cameras to connect him.

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Boston Police officers on routine patrol nearby

Please eliminate this "routine patrol" terminology. The Boston Marathon Islamic terror killings were on a Monday and the Islamic multi-terror attacks on 9/11 were on a Tuesday. One of the cases mentioned here was 11:30 AM on a Sunday!

Officers have no idea what's awaiting them after roll call, 24/7, 365. You can be a hard charging rookie officer working weekend nights and never catch a murder while you can be 64 1/2 years old awaiting retirement and get a murder, like this, after Sunday Mass. There's no such thing as routine. Thank you.

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I think you're looking a bit too much into the wording of the article...

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They were not assigned to any specific task at the time; they were driving around, patrolling.

Just call it "patrolling" then?

For what it's worth, the assistant DA called it "random patrolling."

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Adam,

That’s exactly what we would call it. Random patrol. Nomenclature actually matters in our profession. Defense attorneys have used the expression “routine patrol” against us in court.

And it wasn’t “they”. It was a BPD sergeant who heard the gunfire and raced towards it.

Nonetheless, I continue to thank you for your news coverage.

- a BPD cop who disagrees with 90% of what Fish says

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Lately it seems I'm reading a lot of crime happening in Boston and its neighborhoods have people from other cities and towns involved. At times late at night! What causes this?

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Um drugs, there are a lot of drugs in Boston, people get off buses from other towns cities and states to buy sell or use drugs in Boston. We have Cartel flooding streets with drugs, using young men of color as runners and they all have guns!

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The defense attorney in the first case makes a compelling argument, although I'm sure lots of defense attorneys do. I hope BPD hasn't stopped investigating this case and I hope they've seen the surveillance footage already because the real killer could be walking around. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously bad even so close to the actual crime.

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