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Dorchester man sentenced to life in convenience store murder

E-mail|Link|Comments () May 21, 2009 03:31 PM

By Globe Staff

Nineteen-year-old Tyrice Brown wanted to make changes in his life and set an example for his two young nephews, according to a letter he wrote to a Boston youth program. But he never got a chance.

The letter full of hope was read at the sentencing hearing for Jose Delacruz, 23, of Dorchester, who fatally shot Brown on Feb. 8, 2007, as he sat on an icebox chatting with an acquaintance in a Dorchester convenience store. Delacruz was sentenced to the mandatory term of life in prison without parole, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement.

Brown said in the letter that he wanted to take control of his future by joining the program.

"I got two nephews and whether I like it or not, they look up to me as a father figure. I want to set a positive example for them. ... I don't have any kids, but time after time I'm watching them and I look at them as my own," Brown said in the letter to the YouthBuild program.

"YouthBuild is my chance to change the game in a positive way. I would really appreciate the opportunity to do so," he said in the letter, which was read by his aunt, Katrina Gastis.

After reading the letter, Gastis told the court she missed her nephew and told Delacruz she forgave him because "Tyrice would have forgiven you."

Lashonda Brown, Tyrice Brown's cousin, also spoke of the void left by the loss of Tyrice and said he would never be forgotten, prosecutors said.

Brown, a Roxbury resident, was a senior at Monument High School in South Boston when he was killed.

Jurors convicted Delacruz on Tuesday of first-degree murder, rejecting his statement that he was afraid for his own life when he pumped four bullets into Brown. Prosecutors played chilling surveillance camera of footage during the trial. Tensions between rival groups at the trial were so high that a young man was stabbed in a fight outside the courthouse.