BOSTON, July 23, 2012—A Boston Juvenile Court jury late last week found a Dorchester youth responsible for shooting one woman in the face and firing at three others after a fistfight near Franklin Field, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Suffolk prosecutors had indicted ALEXANDER SOTO (D.O.B. 12/11/93) as a youthful offender on one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, one count of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and four counts of armed assault with intent to murder for firing at the three women, ages 22, 23, and 24, and one of those victims’ 5-year-old niece.

After a five-day trial, the jury found Soto guilty on the firearm charge, the assault charge, and three counts of the lesser included offense of armed assault with intent to kill. Jurors returned the verdict at 6:30 on Friday evening – two and a half hours after the usual close of business in the downtown courthouse.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Zanini, chief of Conley’s Juvenile Unit, introduced evidence and testimony establishing that Soto and the 24-year-old victim already had a hostile relationship by the time of the shooting.

On Sept. 25, 2009, the evidence showed, Soto walked up on that woman, her two friends, and the child as they walked near the Franklin Field Housing Development. Soto punched that woman in the face, sparking a physical altercation in which she and the 23-year-old woman easily got the better of him.

As Soto lost the fistfight, his friend and associate BRIAN HEMINGWAY, Jr. (D.O.B. 8/23/92) jumped in to assist him by punching and kicking the women. Hemingway was later adjudicated as a youthful offender on charges of assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, receiving a sentence of jail time and probation.

As the fight was under way, the 22-year-old victim took her 5-year-old niece away from the scene and moved to a nearby porch. When the fight was over, her friends – the two assault victims – began walking toward her on Stratton Street. That, the evidence showed, was when Soto opened fire at the pair.

Investigators believe he fired as many as five shots from a .38 caliber revolver. The weapon was never recovered, but there were no shell casings at the scene and witnesses described a cylindrical mechanism on the handgun – both consistent with a revolver rather than a semiautomatic.

Soto missed both of his intended targets and instead struck the 22-year-old victim, who had used her body to shield the 5-year-old girl on the porch from the gunfire. Medical testimony showed that the bullet penetrated her lower jaw, knocking out several teeth and fracturing her jaw before coming to rest in her neck.

“Not only was this act reckless, not only did it threaten the lives of people this defendant didn’t even know, but it was the act of an utter coward who didn’t have the guts to walk away from the fight he picked and lost,” Conley said. “A young woman was shot in the face, and it’s a miracle she wasn’t killed.”

Despite her injuries, the testimony showed that the victim didn’t realize she was hit until she tried to scream, no sound came out, and the 5-year-old told her she was bleeding. Boston emergency medical technicians rushed her to Boston Medical Center, where she remained for about a month undergoing surgery. The projectile eventually worked its way out of her neck on its own; doctors provided it to Boston Police, who tested it and found it to be the lead core of a .38 caliber round.

Soto fled the scene on foot in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Boston Police responded to the area almost immediately and interviewed the victims; they identified Soto by name, nickname, and clothing. Detectives obtained a search warrant for his apartment, recovering the pants and sneakers the victims described. They did not find the weapon or the grey hooded sweatshirt he wore during the shooting. Boston Police arrested him at the apartment when he came home the next morning.

Soto was represented by attorney Timothy O’Connell. He faces a maximum of 10 years on each of the armed assault with intent to kill convictions and at least a year and a half on the firearm conviction. Boston Juvenile Court Judge Terry Craven will sentence him on Sept. 6.

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