Jurors given conflicting views of man accused of murdering Boston woman in 2006

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Boston jury today was urged to treat Laron L. Richardson as the killer of Analicia Perry -- and to consider him a hapless stooge of Perry's real killer.

The opposing views of the 20-year old surfaced in Suffolk Superior Court where Richardson is on trial for allegedly shooting Perry to death on a Roxbury street in 2006 -- at the location and on the same day that her brother, Robert, was murdered four years earlier.

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Cory Flashner, in his closing argument, told jurors that Richardson's words in a three-way telephone conversation that took place in 2006 just hours after the 20-year-old Perry died was all the evidence they need to convict Richardson.

"What they heard from Laron Richardson was a confession,'' Flashner said. "It was Laron Richardson who fired that shot...The murder of Analicia Perry was senseless.''

But Richardson's attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, blamed the murder on Perry's former boyfriend, Steven J. Sayles, who allegedly drove past Perry three times that night in the Albert street neighborhood before she was hit by a single bullet fired from Sayles' car. Perry's mother testified that Sayles attacked her daughter during a violent argument while they dated.

"Steven Sayles had a very definite motive,'' Shapiro said. "She had moved on. She had a new boyfriend and she didn't want anything to do with him. He was angry. He was violent and he wouldn't take no for an answer.''

But according to Flashner, Richardson was riding in a car driven by Sayles as Perry walked along Albert street where her brother was killed. Sayles' car passed her three times but as she stopped to light a memorial candle, a shot rang out from the car, striking Perry in the head, a shot Flashner said was fired by Richardson from the passenger seat.

Hours later, Sayles tried to convince Perry's family that he did not shoot Perry, and arranged a three way telephone conversation allegedly with Richardson and three of Perry's relatives who secretly listened in, the prosecutor said.

Flashner said Richardson was called on his grandmother's telephone and that he told Sayles he would "do something'' about Sayles being blamed for the murder. Richardson also said he could not serve 30 years in prison and was considering killing himself, Flashner recounted.

However, Shapiro told jurors that prosecutors have charged the wrong man, that there was no forensic evidence linking his client to the killing, and that Boston police did not pursue alternative suspects as they should have.

Shapiro, in a closing argument that lasted nearly an hour, repeatedly blamed the murder on Perry's former boyfriend, Sayles, and also contended that Sayles concocted the three way telephone conversation as a way to steer authorities away from him.

Shapiro said there was no objective proof that it was Richardson who was on the telephone that day. Of all the listeners, Shapiro said, only Sayles knew what Richardson's voice sounded like and the attorney suggested Sayles had someone pretend to be Richardson.

"Was it really Laron Richardson?'' Shapiro said. "We can't really know for sure.''

Flashner, however, said phone records show the calls were made to Richardson's grandmother's home, and were not some random home or address in Boston.

Sayles has pleaded not guilty to charge of accessory after the fact of murder and will be tried separately.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations today after being charged on the law by Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly. They can choose between first degree murder, which carries life without parole, second degree murder, which carries life with the possibility of parole after 15 years -- or a complete acquittal.

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