BOSTON, May 24, 2016—The brothers convicted of killing 22-year-old Christopher Borgella during a brawl outside a Dorchester hotel have been sentenced to life in prison, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

A jury last week convicted HAROLD COLEMAN (D.O.B. 3/19/88) of Dorchester and SHAWN COLEMAN (D.O.B. 2/26/92) of Boston’s South End of second-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the 2014 homicide during a brawl outside a Dorchester hotel.  Harold Coleman was also found guilty of malicious destruction of property over $250.  At their sentencing this morning, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Linda Giles imposed the mandatory term of life in prison, with parole eligibility after 15 years.

Assistant District Attorney Masai King and Assistant District Attorney Tonya Platt presented evidence and testimony to prove that Borgella was with a group of individuals at a party at the DoubleTree Hotel on Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester on the night of Feb. 28, 2014, into March 1, 2014.  The defendants were also present with another group, and a fight broke out between the two groups.

Hotel staff asked the guests to leave the premises after responding to the room multiple times.  Once outside, the two groups became involved in another physical altercation in the hotel parking lot.  Evidence proved that the defendants attacked Borgella’s group in the parking lot, with Shawn Coleman wielding a knife and Harold Coleman a detachable steering wheel. Borgella suffered a fatal stab wound in that attack, and another man suffered non-fatal injuries.

Before imposing the life sentences, Giles heard an impact statement written by Borgella’s mother – a statement made all the more difficult because the words that might adequately convey her grief “haven’t been invented yet,” she wrote in words read aloud by prosecutors.

“We pride ourselves on being all that we can be to show our kids down all the right paths. My son will never get to pursue his dreams of playing professional basketball, nor will he ever get a chance at marriage, he will never get to have his own children and instill the word of god, education and determination in them as I did in him,” she wrote. “Sleepless nights, depression, anxiety all things that have come with this tragedy … my life will never and could never be the same.”

Erin O’Connor was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Harold and Shawn Coleman were represented by attorneys Jonathan Shapiro and Frank Camera.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.