Witness charged with perjury

A 24-year-old Boston man was arraigned in Cambridge District Court yesterday on charges he lied and pressured another witness to lie to the grand jury investigating the fatal shooting last month of Ferdinand Saintville in Somerville.

A judge ordered Shawn Jones, who was charged with perjury and suborning perjury, held on $7,500 cash bail.

"He's an eyewitness to very important facts in identifying the shooter," Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said in a telephone interview. "We have reliable information, which makes it clear that he knows the identity of the shooter."

Leone said he hopes that Jones's arrest sends a message to others who refuse to talk or try to intimidate witnesses of violence in the area.

"If we feel a witness has legitimate fears, we work with them," Leone said. "If we feel they're trying to uphold a code of silence, we don't tolerate that."

A Boston lawyer representing Jones did not return calls, and relatives could not be reached.

The shooting occurred at about 1:30 a.m. on April 21, as Saintville, 25, and friends were driving home from the Good Times Emporium in Somerville. They came to the intersection of Alfred Lombardi Way and Mystic Avenue, when a van with several men inside stopped ahead of them, Saintville's friends told authorities.

Then someone opened fire from the van and hit Saintville, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Later that day, police tracked the van to an address in Charlestown and arrested Marquis Williams, 20, of Randolph. He was arraigned April 23 in Somerville District Court on one count of accessory after the fact of murder.

Police later arrested David Cole, 19, of Boston, who was arraigned on first-degree murder charges May 7 in Somerville District Court. Prosecutors allege that Cole shot Saintville.

Leone said Jones is refusing to tell authorities what he knows about the shooting.

"We allege that this witness had critical information about the circumstances of this shooting, yet chose not to cooperate with law enforcement nor answer questions truthfully under oath," he said in a statement.

Asked whether Jones tried to intimidate another witness, Leone said: "He asked someone else to be untruthful about what he knew to law enforcement and the grand jury."

Prosecutors said that Jones must return to court June 11 for a pretrial conference and that he faces up to 20 years in prison.