Thursday, 4:30 PM
Judge: men convicted of subway shooting have no "human decency at all"
By Megan Tench and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
A Suffolk Superior Court judge castigated two young men today convicted of murdering an unborn child in the shooting of a pregnant woman on a crowded subway train and tacked 66 to 80 years on to their mandatory sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"Neither of these defendants had any basic human decency at all," Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Connolly said today in a packed courtroom. "It's a tragedy. Their lives are over. But that is what they brought upon themselves, and the people who love them."
Chimezie Akara, 23, and Andre Green, 22, were each charged with firing an errant hollow point bullet that struck Hawa Barry in the abdomen on Feb. 5, 2003. Barry, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time, survived, but her son died 45 minutes after being delivered by Cesarean section. The men blamed each other for pulling the trigger.
In court today, a handcuffed Green wore a dark suit. Akara looked disheveled in a long-sleeve shirt and pants.
Green's relatives crowded the front row of the public gallery. As he passed, a woman reached out to touch him and began to audibly sob.
Barry, 34, gave a victim impact statement in her native West African language of Fula, which was translated by an interpreter for the court.
"I still have pain in my stomach," Barry said. "I cannot work. My husband is working hard."
Then, Barry's voice dropped so low it was almost a whisper. "I can’t get pregnant no more," she said.
Monday afternoon, the jury found Akara and Green guilty on all counts after 10 days of deliberation. In addition to murder, both were convicted of three counts of armed assault with intent to murder, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and one count each of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
During the five-week trial, prosecutors told the jury that the two men acted together when they fired a 9mm semiautomatic Desert Eagle handgun at another man inside the subway train and missed their target.
The target, identified by police as Philip Gadsden, had yelled to passengers: "They have a gun. Believe me, they have a gun," according to witness testimony.
Others ducked for cover, but Barry, who had emigrated from Guinea in West Africa and who spoke very little English, could not understand what he was saying.
Another man on the train, a student at Berklee College of Music, escaped harm when a second bullet lodged in the guitar case strapped to his back. Surveillance video played for the jury showed the two defendants fleeing the rear of the train, where prosecutors said they had opened fire.
In the course of the trial, lawyer Robert L. Sheketoff, who defended Akara, told the jury that his client was not guilty and said Barry identified Green as the shooter. Green's lawyer, Stephen J. Weymouth, also told jurors that his client was not guilty, and he pointed a finger at Akara.
The men were found guilty under what is known as the joint venture theory, which allowed the jury to convict both defendants because the panel believed they were both involved in the crime.
Both lawyers reiterated objections today to outcome of the case and called the jury’s verdict "a miscarriage of justice."
