Judge rips pair convicted in T slaying

Before a packed courtroom, a Suffolk Superior Court judge yesterday excoriated two young men convicted of killing a child in the shooting of a pregnant woman on a crowded subway train and tacked 66 to 80 years onto their mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole.

"I'll tell you, neither of these defendants had any basic human decency at all," said Judge Thomas E. Connolly, as Chimezie Akara, 23, dressed in a disheveled white shirt, and Andre Green, 22, wearing a dark suit and tie, sat in handcuffs.

"Look at their ages," Connolly said, carefully scanning the defendants. "It's a tragedy. Their lives are over. But that is what they brought upon themselves and the people who love them, their mothers and fathers."

Akara, of Roslindale, and Green, of the South End, were convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the death of baby Barry, who died 45 minutes after being delivered by caesarean section. His mother, Hawa Barry of Lynn, was 8 1/2 months pregnant when she was struck in the abdomen by a hollow-point bullet intended for another passenger on the Orange Line train on Feb. 5, 2003.

The intended victim, identified as Philip Gadsden by police, yelled to passengers, warning them that Akara and Green had a gun, but Barry, an immigrant from Guinea, spoke little English and did not duck for cover.

"I still have pain in my stomach," the soft-spoken woman, now 34, told the judge yesterday through a translator before the sentencing. "I cannot work. My husband is working hard."

Her voice fell to a faint whisper. "I can't get pregnant no more," she said. "That's all I have to say."

Another unintended victim, a student from Berklee College of Music, escaped harm when a second bullet lodged in the guitar case he was carrying on his back.

"In many ways, your honor, this was not just an attack on those four victims," said prosecutor David Meier, referring to Barry, her unborn child, the Berklee student, and Gadsden. "This was very much an assault on civilized society. Those two individuals made a knowing and conscious decision . . . to fire two rounds of a loaded handgun" on a crowded train.

Meier recommended that the judge hand down maximum sentences against Akara and Green, who accused each other of pulling the trigger. After 10 days of deliberation, a jury found them guilty of first-degree murder, 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.

Lawyers for both defendants said they were outraged with the sentences and vowed to appeal. They also criticized the way the court proceedings were handled, specifically for forcing the defendants to be tried together instead of separately.

"This case is a double tragedy, first for Hawa Barry and her baby and secondly for one of these two clients who is clearly innocent and wrongly convicted," said Robert L. Sheketoff, Akara's lawyer. "For one of these defendants, this is a miscarriage of justice."

Stephen J. Weymouth, who defended Green, agreed, saying the additional prison time was less about justice and more about putting on a show. Green continues to insist that the jury got it wrong and that he did nothing but stand alongside Akara when Akara started firing, Weymouth said.

Connolly, however, dismissed the criticism.

"What happened in this case would never have happened if one of these two men did not have that gun," said Connolly, adding that it was incomprehensible that two men would fire a weapon inside a crowded train.

He said Akara, who comes from a middle-class family, and Green, whose mother and grandmother died when he was young and who grew up with six siblings and step siblings, let down the hard work of their families when they dropped out of school in the ninth grade to "swig Smirnoff or whatever it was," referring to testimony that the two spent the afternoon drinking liquor before they headed out to the train that fateful evening.

After Connolly pronounced the sentence, some family members of the defendants cried aloud, one sobbing and reaching out for Green as he stood in handcuffs. Another family member buckled in anguish and had to be held as she left the courtroom.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said he hopes the sentences send a clear message.

"Young people in the city who are arming themselves and firing indiscriminately ought to take notice," he said.

Megan Tench can be reached at mtench@globe.com.