'I'm sorry. I'm sorry.'

Sobbing mother is arraigned in 8-year-old boy's accidental shooting death

The mother of Liquarry Jefferson did everything she could to appear composed for her court arraignment yesterday.

She had cut her long hair into a neat bob, donned a black, pin-striped suit, and had several friends, ministers, and relatives at her side as she came to court on charges that she was responsible for the shooting death of her 8-year-old boy.

But the moment that Lakeisha Gadson walked into the courtroom, she burst into tears and fell into the arms of one of her friends, a minister who has known her since she was a girl.

"It's going to be all right," the Rev. Betty Collier whispered to the 31-year-old woman who sobbed loudly on her shoulder.

Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson ordered Gadson held on $10,000 cash bail on several charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors said she allowed her 15-year-old son, Jayquan McConnico, Liquarry's half-brother, to bring an illegal gun into her Dorchester apartment and keep it in an unlocked dresser drawer. Last June, Liquarry and his 7-year-old cousin found the gun and began to play with it. The cousin accidentally pulled the trigger, fatally shooting Liquarry in the abdomen.

Gadson, who had been summoned to court, was led out in handcuffs.

"Can I give her a hug, please?" a woman who later identified herself as Mrs. Jefferson, Liquarry's grandmother, asked the guards. They looked at her briefly and then continued to walk out of the courtroom with Gadson.

"I'm sorry," Gadson said as she was led away sobbing. "I'm sorry."

Gadson and McConnico, now 16, were indicted Monday on charges of involuntary manslaughter, misleading police, and unlawful storage of a gun. Conviction on the manslaughter charge could bring a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Gadson was also charged with child endangerment, unlawful possession of a gun, and wantonly permitting bodily injury to a child.

Gadson, who wore two pins bearing pictures of Liquarry, shook her head and cried throughout the proceeding yesterday. She pleaded not guilty in a soft, shaky voice.

McConnico will be arraigned in Boston Juvenile Court on Monday.

Assistant District Attorney David Deakin said Gadson knew her older son had brought a gun into the house and even approved of him carrying it.

Deakin, who described Liquarry's death as tragically predictable and preventable, released more details of the night of June 24, when Liquarry was shot.

As Liquarry and his cousin played with the gun in McConnico's bedroom, Liquarry's 3-year-old sister was outside, clamoring to get in. The boys refused to let her in. Moments later, Liquarry's cousin accidentally fired the gun, which had no safety.

McConnico immediately hid the gun and a bag of bullets in a pair of boxer shorts, the prosecutor said. When emergency officials arrived at the house, Liquarry was still alive, lying on his back, Deakin said. The boy told emergency officials his cousin had shot him.

But, Deakin said, McConnico and Gadson tried to mislead police and told four lies about what happened, including one version in which armed gunmen in hooded sweatshirts stormed inside and started firing.

The prosecutor told the clerk magistrate that Gadson had a series of criminal charges, starting from when she was a teenager. Gadson has been arraigned 19 times on 32 different charges, including assault on a police officer, Deakin said. She had failed to show up for court on nine occasions, Deakin said.

Her lawyer, Peter Krupp, tried to argue that most of Gadson's charges had been dismissed and that she had not missed any court dates in eight years.

Wilson was not swayed.

"I'm not satisfied the defendant would return to court on personal recognizance," he said. A trial was tentatively scheduled for April 2, 2009.

Outside the courtroom, Gadson's friends and relatives hugged each other and said that Gadson had suffered enough.

"Every day, she's got to wake up and realize her [expletive] baby is gone," wailed one woman who gave only her first name, Damika.

Mrs. Jefferson, who declined to give her first name and said she was Liquarry's paternal grandmother, said Gadson should have been released.

"She's a good mother; she took care of her kids very well," she said. "I've known Liquarry since he was 2 weeks old. That's my baby, too."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.