BOSTON, Jan. 2, 2013—A man whose conviction for the murder of Aston Dwayne Thompson was overturned last year by the state’s highest court pleaded guilty today in the 2003 slaying, accepting a 15-year prison term and likely deportation upon his release, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

LINROSE WOODBINE (D.O.B. 9/21/76) pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition in connection with the Dec. 15, 2003, fatal shooting of the 28-year-old Thompson, who had left the Wales Street apartment where he and some friends were celebrating his birthday.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury found Woodbine guilty of first-degree murder during his 2007 trial.  That conviction was overturned in March by the Supreme Judicial Court, which found in part that the jury should not have heard certain testimony regarding Woodbine’s unrecorded statements to a detective.

In pleading guilty, Woodbine admitted that he and a still-unknown second man shot Thompson multiple times during a robbery attempt in a parking lot behind the victim’s apartment building.  Thompson suffered gunshot wounds to the head, back, shoulder, and abdomen.

After hearing gunshots, prosecutors say, an acquaintance of the victim came from the apartment and returned fire, wounding Woodbine in the right leg and right buttock.

Police located a gun in a pool of blood and followed a blood trail to Kingston Street, where they found Woodbine.  Woodbine’s DNA was matched to the blood found on the gun, and that gun was matched to bullets recovered from the victim.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Locke accepted Woodbine’s change of plea and imposed the recommended sentence of 15 years in state prison on the voluntary manslaughter charge and concurrent sentences of four to five years in state prison for gun possession and two years in the house of correction for possession of ammunition.

Woodbine received credit for time served since his arrest and the sentences on the lesser charges were deemed served.  His attorney, James Sultan, indicated in court that Woodbine will likely be deported to Jamaica upon his release from prison.

–30–

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