Defendant in murder case is shot

A Dorchester man on trial for being an accessory to murder was shot along with his mother yesterday afternoon on a neighborhood street, police said.

Darnell Ricks Jr., 20, was shot in the arm as he was leaving the Social Security Administration building on Freeport Street, a witness and his lawyer said.

Ricks and his mother, who appeared to have been grazed in the face by a bullet, were taken to Boston Medical Center and are expected to survive, police said.

"Darnell is in stable condition," said his lawyer, Eduardo Masferrer. "He'll do fine. He's done nothing to cause the attack that happened to him, and I'm sure that police will investigate it."

Police released few details, including Ricks's mother's name, but said they were looking for three black males who appeared to be in their late teens and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. One wore a dark hood and was riding a bike. Another had short black hair and wore a black hood and blue jeans. The third man wore blue jeans and a black hood, and had long hair tied back in a ponytail under a baseball cap he wore backward, police said.

A witness who declined to give his name said the victims were shot as they sat in a Dodge sedan. After the shootings, the car sped southeast toward the corner of Freeport Street and Morrissey Boulevard, then stopped in front of a Shell gas station.

Yesterday evening police collected shell casings in front of the Social Security building, while the Dodge sat in the gas station parking lot on Morrissey Boulevard, its driver's and passenger's side windows shattered.

Ricks was on trial for charges of being an accessory to murder after the fact for allegedly helping 20-year-old William Badgett get away after Badgett fatally shot 25-year-old Louis DoSouto following a party on Hamilton Street in Dorchester last year.

Prosecutors have said that police saw Badgett running from the scene, holding a gun, with Ricks ahead of him, yelling at him to toss it.

Masferrer said his client maintains his innocence.

"He had nothing to do with the shooting that occurred in Dorchester last year," Masferrer said.

The trial reached its seventh day yesterday, with the prosecution still presenting its case when Ricks was shot. Badgett and Ricks are being tried together.

Police did not release a motive in yesterday's shooting. A law enforcement official said Ricks had not been cooperating with prosecutors in DoSouto's shooting.

Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said Ricks's inability to come to court because of his medical condition could affect whether the trial continues.

John Drake of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.