Thursday, 4:30 PM
DA: driver in fatal crash fled police to avoid 10-day prison term
By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
The Somerville man accused of causing a car crash that killed a 23-year-old musician and left two people in critical condition was fleeing police because he had a 10-day prison sentencing hanging over his head, a prosecutor said today at his arraignment.
Javier Morales, 29, grimaced in pain from surgeries on his right hip and knee as he pleaded not guilty to motor vehicle homicide and a slew of other charges as he lay in a bed at Massachusetts General Hospital.
After the violent crash early Sunday morning, Morales told investigators that he fled a State Trooper because he never served the 10-day sentence stemming from a conviction for driving with a suspended license in Concord in 2004, according to Jodi Walker, an assistant Middlesex district attorney.
Judge Maurice Flynn of Somerville District Court took that fact into account when he set bail at $100,000.
"All he was looking at on the Concord case was 10 days in jail. And he couldn’t be counted on to do that," Flynn said. "I have strong misgivings about him showing up for this case."
Morales is accused of slamming into a taxicab and killing Paul V. Farris, a Tufts University graduate and the lead singer of the band theMark. The crash also left Farris's girlfriend, Katelyn Hoyt, and the cabdriver in critical condition.
Defense attorney Jason Thomas described Morales as a lifelong resident of the Boston area who made it as far as 11th grade at Madison Park High School. He lives with his mother, two brothers, and two sisters in Somerville.
According to Walker, the chase began in Everett at about 1:25 a.m., when a trooper saw Morales driving a black sport utility vehicle. He took a left from the center lane and cut across traffic and forced other cars "to jam on their breaks to avoid a collision." Walker said.
The trooper flicked on his sirens and lights and following Morales into Somerville, chasing his SUV at a "high rate of speed," said Walker, who did not say how fast the trooper was driving.
On Monday, a spokesman for the Middlesex County district attorney said that Morales had his license suspended after a 2004 traffic stop in Concord in which he was ticketed for a lane violation. It is not immediately clear what license Morales showed police when he was pulled over in 2004 or where it was issued. It was a holiday Monday and additional details about the incident were not available.
Morales is accused of speeding in a Mercury Mountaineer through a densely populated section of Somerville onto Highland Road, and plowing into the taxicab.
