Man who changed testimony is held

A key witness in '07 murder trial accused of perjury

Kyrice Grady was the key witness in a capital murder case, the man who told a grand jury he saw Charon Ray, 21, shoot and kill a 14-year-old on a summer evening in 2004.

But before the trial started, Grady allegedly tried to swing a deal with prosecutors: If they wanted his testimony, he wanted his gun charges dropped, or else he would change his story. Prosecutors refused, and say Grady made good on his word.

He told the trial jury last year he never saw Da-Keem Galloway gunned down on a street in Roxbury. He said he had never met the defendant, never pointed him out in a photo array, and was nowhere near the crime scene that day. As for his previous testimony, he said he could not remember it because he was high on marijuana at the time.

Yesterday, he was in Suffolk Superior Court facing the possibility of life in prison for perjury. Standing with his hands cuffed and shackled at his waist, Grady, 22, of Dorchester, pleaded not guilty.

State law allows for a maximum life term for conviction of lying under oath in a first-degree murder case, a punishment that last was imposed in Suffolk County between 10 and 15 years ago, said District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

The statute "reflects the seriousness of the offense," Conley said in an interview. "Lying in a trial can send an innocent person to jail and can also allow a guilty one to walk free. It's serious in any trial, but especially in a homicide case, because it strikes at the heart of our ability to seek justice for the victim."

Grady's lawyer, J. Lawrence Kelly, said after the arraignment that the case came as a complete surprise to his client.

"A simple deviation between testimony now and testimony months later is not, in and of itself, perjury," Kelly said. "The government would have to prove specific intent to deceive."

Prosecutors contend that the intent was clear. After testifying before a Suffolk grand jury, prosecutors say, Grady was arrested on a gun charge and demanded a deal, promising to lie on the stand without one.

Conley said yesterday that prosecutors prefer building a case around independent witnesses, rather than cutting deals with people who commit serious crimes.

"It's never our instinct to make a deal with someone like Kyrice Grady," Conley said. "It was just a deal we could not in good conscience make."

Grady was set to be released from prison on parole yesterday after serving an 18-month sentence for illegal possession of a firearm and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, Kelly told the court. Instead, Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson ordered him held on $100,000 cash bail.

"It's rather unfortunate this would be sprung on him on the last day of his sentence," Kelly said.

Prosecutors argued that the bail was necessary because of the gun charges, as well as a previous charge of assault and battery on a police officer and because of his juvenile record. Kelly said his client, whose mother and sister were in court but declined to comment, had very little money and could only afford to post $1,000 cash bail.

The pursuit of perjury charges against witnesses who recant testimony became easier under legislation signed into law in March 2006. The state must prove only that two statements made under oath conflict. In the past, prosecutors had to prove which statement was true and which was false.

Despite Grady's testimony, a jury convicted Ray of murder in June 2007, and he is serving a life sentence.

At his sentencing, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders said many people in Roxbury had refused to share information with investigators. Authorities arrested Ray after a 15-month inquiry, Sanders said, largely as a result of the grand jury investigation and Grady's testimony.

Prosecutors said Grady told the grand jury that he knew of an ongoing dispute between Galloway and Ray. About two days before Galloway was slain in June 2004, Ray bumped into him as they argued on a neighborhood street, took his baseball cap, and told Galloway he would "pop his top off," investigators said.

At the time of the killing, Ray lived near Charlame Park Homes I, a residential complex of brick apartments off Humboldt Avenue where many of his friends resided, prosecutors said. Galloway lived in the complex across the street, in Charlame Park Homes II, on Bower Street. The conflict between some teenagers in the neighborhoods had been growing in recent months, and on June 10, 2004, friends of both the victim and Ray got into an argument.

Later that night, Galloway went with a small group to walk a friend to the bus stop. Ray, in a hooded sweatshirt, followed them to the intersection of Hazelwood Court and Hazelwood Street, where he shot Galloway in the back of the head and injured another boy less seriously. Galloway died the next day at Boston Medical Center.

Christopher Baxter can be reached at cbaxter@globe.com.