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West Roxbury man identified as Allston stabbing victim

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 9, 2009 03:58 PM

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A West Roxbury man today was identified as the person who was stabbed to death in Allston after bars and nightclubs closed early Sunday morning.

Gregory A. Phillips was stabbed once in the heart while he and a group of friends argued – first verbally and then physically – with a second group of people after leaving The Kells, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Paul Treseler said in court today.

A woman who answered the door at the Phillips family home in West Roxbury declined comment this afternoon.

No one has been charged with stabbing the 24-year-old Phillips, but Treseler broadly outlined the circumstances of Phillips's death during the arraignment of Corey D. Patterson, who is charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder.

Treseler said that after closing time, Phillips and Patterson were with competing groups of people who began arguing on Brighton Avenue around 2:20 a.m. The disagreement – Treseler did not say what the issue was – escalated in intensity until Phillips had been stabbed and was lying on the street near Brighton and Harvard avenues.

Boston police descended on the scene and a civilian witness notified an officer that a bloody knife lay underneath a red car. As officers tried to secure the overall crime scene and the car where the knife was spotted, Patterson allegedly got out of a car and grabbed hold of the still-bloody knife, Treseler said.

Patterson’s alleged theft of the murder weapon was spotted by another civilian witness who alerted police. With guns drawn, police ordered a green Lincoln carrying Patterson to stop and then tried to recover the knife from Patterson, Treseler said in court.

Instead of surrendering both the knife and himself, Patterson allegedly engaged in a furious struggle with at least three police officers, kicking and punching them as they struggle to put him into handcuffs, Treseler said.

“Even then, he would not turn over the bloody knife,’’ Treseler said. Patterson, whose face was scratched during the struggle, was eventually taken into custody. Police seized all of his clothing.

Treseler told Judge David T. Donnelly that Patterson has twice been convicted of illegal possession of a firearm and is currently being prosecuted in Dorchester Municipal Court for possession and distribution of heroin in a school zone.

Patterson’s defense attorney, Harold H. Hakala of Boston, said in court that Patterson is a lifelong Massachusetts resident who has worked for an oil distribution company for the past six years. He urged Donnelly to set bail at $10,000 cash.

Patterson “denies all the charges,’’ Hakala said in a brief interview. “He is confident that he will be found not guilty of all charges in the appropriate forum.’’

The judge, however, accepted Treseler’s request set bail at $200,000 cash on the accessory charge and revoked Patterson’s bail in the Dorchester court case. Patterson is due back in Brighton Municipal Court on Dec. 12.

The knife is undergoing forensic testing, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office. “The investigation is focused and very active,” Conley said in a statement.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Boston Police CrimeStoppers tip line at 1-800-494-TIPS.

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