Thursday, 4:30 PM
Trial begins in shooting of pregnant woman, slaying of unborn child
By Megan Tench, Globe Staff
Opening statements had not even begun before Hawa Barry began wiping away tears.
Two men sat in front of her, accused of shooting Barry, then 30, in the stomach with a military-style semiautomatic handgun on a crowded Orange Line train. She was 8 months pregnant.
The bullet killed her unborn baby boy.
The defendants, Chimezie Akara, 23, and Andre Green, 22, each accuse the other of pulling the trigger that cold night in February.
But prosecutor David Meier told jurors Tuesday that the two men acted together. Both are charged with murder, armed assault with intent to murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition.
"Each of the two defendants [is] guilty," said Meier. "If you follow the facts ... it will not matter to you who pulled the trigger. When all is said and done, the two men responsible for shooting Hawa Barry, killing her unborn child, are the defendants Andre Green and Chimezie Akara."
Doctors at Boston Medical Center delivered the baby by caesarean section.
"It was a baby boy" who weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces, had a normal heart rate, and was breathing on his own, Meier said. "His name was baby boy Barry. ... Baby boy Barry was alive for 45 minutes." But a hollow-point bullet that had ripped through his back, tearing apart his liver, kidney, and ribs, killed him.
Barry, who had recently emigrated from Guinea to be with her husband in Lynn, could barely understand the passengers as they screamed that the men had a gun, Meier said.
Surveillance video will show the two men fleeing the rear of the train, where they opened fire, one bullet striking the guitar of a Berklee College of Music student and another hitting Barry, Meier told the courtroom.
Meier told jurors friends and relatives of the two men will testify that the two admitted their involvement in the shooting.
Akara repeatedly denied to police that he was anywhere near the station at the time of the shooting. Robert Sheketoff, his lawyer, said his client may not have been honest with police about being at the scene, but he is not guilty.
"Together they fired a handgun?" Sheketoff asked the jury in bewilderment.
"It doesn’t take two people to fire a handgun," he said. "There is no together in this case."
Sheketoff contends that the shooter was Green and said Barry told police that.
When police showed her an array of photos, Sheketoff said, "Instantaneously, she pointed to the shooter. She told them she sees the man in her dreams."
Green’s lawyer, Stephen Weymouth, also told jurors that his client was innocent, that Green did not know the intended victim but Akara did.
"One gun, one motive, one shooter," Weymouth said. "Chimezie Akara shot the gun and had the motive."
Judge Thomas Connolly instructed jurors that they could convict both defendants under the theory of joint venture if they believe both defendants were involved in the commission of the crime, one who committed the crime and another who aided and abetted the commission of the crime.
