Teen pleads not guilty in stabbing

As dozens of teenagers squared off on a basketball court in the Mary Ellen McCormack housing development in South Boston on July 11, Bang Mai walked away from the melee.

He died just the same.

Yesterday, a gray blanket cloaked the head of Mai's alleged killer in South Boston District Court, where 16-year-old Keith E. Gillespie pleaded not guilty to an adult charge of first-degree murder. Gillespie's parents, aunt, and uncle looked on as Judge Robert P. Ziemian ordered him held without bail. If convicted of the charge in Suffolk Superior Court, Gillespie would face life in prison without parole.

Bang Mai also was 16. His mother, Nhi Tran of Medford, attended the arraignment. At one point, she burst into tears as she tried to catch a glimpse of the youth accused of her son's killing. Nhi Tran raised her son in East Boston. At the time of his death, he had come home for the weekend from Chicopee, where he was enrolled in a residential vocational training program. Tran left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Edmond J. Zabin gave the first official account of the fight that broke out after 5 p.m. in Veteran's Park on July 11 between a group of white youths from South Boston and Asian teenagers, most of them Vietnamese from Dorchester, East Boston, and Medford.

Zabin said that Mai and Gillespie were at the park and that what started as one-on-one fistfights suddenly exploded into a massive brawl. Mai and Gillespie participated in the brawl, Zabin said, and Gillespie managed to land some blows to Mai's back during their first contact.

Then Mai began to walk away, with his back to Gillespie, Zabin said. At that point, Gillespie tapped Mai on the back, prompting Mai to turn and face Gillespie, Zabin said.

Then, the prosecurot said, Gillespie reached into his clothing, pulled a knife, and stabbed Mai once in the chest, severing a lung and slicing Mai's heart. Mai collapsed on the pavement. He was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he died.

Zabin said a Suffolk Superior Court grand jury has been investigating the fatal melee and has heard sworn testimony from eyewitnesses who have been incriminating Gillespie in the murder. Witnesses said Gillespie was heard bragging about his role in the death, Zabin said. Although the incident has been under investigation by the Boston Police Department's Community Disorders Unit, Zabin did not mention racial animosity or any other cause of the melee.

Gillespie's lawyer, Jeffrey T. Karp, told reporters that Zabin and Boston police homicide detectives have accused an innocent teenager. Karp refused to confirm or deny that Gillespie, who lives in the McCormack development, was at the basketball court that Sunday evening. He pointed out that newspaper accounts estimated that 100 teens were involved.

''We adamantly deny my client was involved in this stabbing," said Karp, who acknowledged that police have questioned Gillespie. ''He's got nothing to hide. He didn't confess because he didn't do this. He is a good kid."

Karp, who said he would speak on the family's behalf, said that Gillespie is a high school sophomore who has been working this summer at the Marian Manor nursing home in South Boston. ''He is scared," Karp said.

Tom Kelly, who worked as Gillespie's counselor at Action for Boston Community Development Inc., said he placed the teenager in the laundry room because Gillespie wore a leg brace and couldn't handle a job requiring mobility.

Gillespie began working at the nursing home July 7, four days before the brawl. Gillespie's mother, Leslie, also works at the nursing home, which is managed by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. She is a beautician.

''His mother came to me and said, 'Can you get him a job?' " Kelly said. ''His mother said, 'He's in a wheelchair.' "

When Gillespie showed up for work he was out of the wheelchair, Kelly said.

He applied for the job and came in with his mother some time at the end of June wearing a heavy leg brace, Kelly said.

Kelly found Gillespie to be responsible, agreeable, and eager.

''He came to work and did his hours," Kelly said. ''When I reluctantly told him I had a job in the laundry room, he said: 'Oh, that's OK. I want a job.' . . . Another kid would have complained. He said it was fine. He seemed like a good enough kid."

Karp, while stressing that he was not criticizing Mai, pointed out that authorities have said that some of the Asian teenagers were armed with bats at the basketball court.

''They didn't come to the park to sell Girl Scout cookies," Karp said. ''They didn't come to that park to sing in a choir.

''It's a devastating event that has happened here, that somebody was killed," he said. ''But you have to keep the context here. Whoever did this, I am sure, probably acted in self-defense."

Gillespie is due back in South Boston District Court on Aug. 18.