2 Boston men sentenced to prison for life for murder of father killed during 2018 fireworks display

Two men were sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday, a day after they were convicted of killing Deondra Lee, a Boston father who was murdered as he and his wife took in a fireworks display in Dorchester in 2018.

Michael Carleton, of Mattapan, and Travis Phillips, of Dorchester, fatally shot Lee on Brookford Street around on July 4, 2018, as he sat next to his wife, who was pregnant with twins at the time.

Carleton drove behind where the couple was sitting while Phillips fired several shots at Lee from point-blank range.

There was no motive for the crime, officials said.

“A completely innocent person was gunned down in front of his home,” interim Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden told WCVB.

Lee’s wife said in Suffolk Superior Court on Thursday that her husband’s murder has left her traumatized.

She never imagined she would be a widow at age 35, she said.

“I never thought that I would watch my husband murdered in front of me while my boys played across the street,” according to her victim impact statement provided by Hayden’s office. “Exactly a week later, I gave birth to our twins alone. While I should be excited about the birth of our twins, I was preoccupied with the trauma of being shot at, witnessing my husband being murdered, and then ultimately planning my husband’s funeral, while at the same time caring for two newborn babies. Because of you, my twins will never meet their father.”

A prosecutor read aloud a statement from Lee’s 11-year-old son.

“You took the only dad I had in my life, and he was the best dad I could ever imagine,” the statement reads. “You took the person who was going to teach me how to be a man, teach me how to do things on my own like fix things. Why would you take away the person that I looked up to?”