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Mother of 2008 Boston murder victim says killer took life of her 'golden child'

E-mail|Link June 21, 2010 03:12 PM

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

The mother of a Dorchester murder victim today told her son's killer in a Boston courtroom that he was a "thief" who stole the life of her "golden child."

Dawn Barboza delivered a victim impact statement in Suffolk Superior Court this afternoon where Patrick Grier was sentenced for murdering her son, DeAndre Barboza, in 2008.

Dawn Barboza said she called her son – who was 16 years old when he was shot on a Dorchester street – her "golden child…I called him that because when I was pregnant with him, his dad had also been brutally murdered here in the streets of Boston."

Barboza identified her son's father as Nathaniel Rivers. He was shot dead at a Dorchester house party in 1991, allegedly as retaliation for an earlier murder. Seven years later, two men were convicted of murdering Rivers and another woman at the party, according to Globe coverage of the crime and its aftermath.

"You're not only a murderer, you're a thief, a thief of innocent life that was not yours to take,'' Dawn Barboza told the 21-year-old Grier.

Grier was convicted earlier today of first degree murder and was given the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole this afternoon by Superior Court Judge Judith Fabricant.

Before Fabricant imposed the sentence, the judge listened to Dawn Barboza and two of the slain teen's siblings, Iesha Mayfield and Brittney Barboza.

"My brother DeAndre meant everything to me,'' Brittney Barboza said in court. "He was my favorite person to talk, laugh and just have fun with. When I found out DeAndre died,I couldn't help but cry. I felt like I lost a piece of my heart."

She then began sobbing but regain her composure so she could also say "DeAndre was my soldier. He protected me for everything."

Grier looked down throughout the family's statements.

Grier was convicted of shooting DeAndre Barboza while he was walking on Lyndhurst Street on Dec. 1, 2008. Barboza was shot several times, inlcuding once in the head, but initially survived. But one day after his 17th birthday, Barboza died on Dec. 3 from his injuries, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office.

Greier and a juvenile co-defendant were arrested moments after the violence by Boston police officers, who had been at the nearby Dorchester Municipal Court when the shooting took place, according to Conley's office.

Grier's conviction will automatically be reviewed by the Supreme Judicial Court.