Prosecutors say Mattapan case was a robbery that turned into a bloodbath; defense says key witness ‘bamboozled’ police
A prosecutor today invoked the memory of the 2-year-old boy who was killed in a mass slaying on a Mattapan street, as he outlined the case against two men accused in the cold-blooded killings.
[fragment number=0]“Amanihotep Smith was, and forever will be, a 2-year-old little boy … who knew nothing about the code of the streets,’’ Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin said in opening statements in the alleged killers’ Superior Court trial.
As Zabin described how each of the four victims died in explicit detail, several family members of the victims ran out of the courtroom sobbing.
Edward Washington, 32, and Dwayne Moore, 34, are being tried jointly for first-degree murder in the slayings of the little boy; his mother, Eyanna Flonory, 21; Simba Martin, 21, her boyfriend; and Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, on Sept. 28, 2010.
Zabin said Moore and Kimani Washington, ex-cons, hatched a plan to rob Simba Martin and recruited Edward Washington as the getaway driver.
Kimani Washington, a career criminal, got the guns for the robbery. But he left before the slayings began, Zabin said, and is now a crucial witness for the prosecution.
Zabin said the armed robbery plan had turned into a bloodbath as the killers led the victim’s from Martin’s home on Sutton Street to Woolson and Wildwood streets where they were shot to death.
Zabin urged the jury to listen closely to Kimani Washington’s testimony.
But John Amabile, Moore’s defense lawyer, wasted no time in attacking Washington’s credibility in his opening statement, saying he was a thief, a misogynist, and “a murderer.’’
Amabile said Washington had “bamboozled’’ police and pinned the blame on an innocent man.
Jack Cunha, who represents Edward Washington, asked the jury not to be swept up in the emotions of the case.
“This isn’t about a witch hunt,’’ he said. “This is about the facts and the law.’’
A fifth victim, Marcus Hurd, 32, was shot in the back of the head and survived. Hurd, who is now a quadriplegic, is also expected to take the stand during the trial.
Twelve jurors and three alternates have been chosen in the trial. The jury this morning viewed several scenes connected to the murder.
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