BOSTON, May 21, 2013—The state’s highest court today denied appeals by two Boston gang members whose 2003 attempt to shoot a rival instead left a pregnant woman seriously wounded with a gunshot injury and her baby dead after an emergency Caesarian section, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

The 15-page decision by the Supreme Judicial Court means that ANDRE GREEN (D.O.B. 5/29/84) of Boston and CHIMEZIE AKARA (D.O.B. 10/7/83) of Roslindale will serve out their life sentences without the possibility of parole in the murder of Baby Boy Barry, who suffered mortal injuries while inside his mother’s womb on the evening of Feb. 5, 2003. The mother, a 29-year-old Lynn resident at the time, was rushed to Boston Medical Center for emergency surgery. Her child was delivered about two weeks early but, according to medical testimony, would have survived but for his grievous injuries.

“These two men opened fire on a crowded subway train,” Conley said. “In their attempt to shoot a rival, they put everyone else at risk. And who did they hit? A pregnant woman with no stake in their drama. Who did they kill? An infant who lived for less than an hour before succumbing to the injuries they inflicted. There can be no second chances for these two men. There can be no excuses for their behavior.”

The defendants’ primary claim on appeal was that the evidence did not support their convictions as joint venturers in the fatal shooting.

The unanimous decision, authored by Justice Fernande Duffly, said otherwise, noting that the evidence at trial was sufficient to convict either defendant as the gunman or the one who aided and abetted the gunman.

“Because the evidence supports each alternative finding, the jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that both defendants ‘knowingly participated in the commission of the crime[s] charged … with the intent required for [those] offense[s],” Duffly wrote, quoting a 2009 SJC decision.

Evidence and testimony at the 2007 trial proved that Akara and Green were on board an MBTA Orange Line train at Mass Ave station just before 8:00 p.m. when they opened fire on a rival. Amid the crowd of people they put at risk was an expecting mother who, as a recent immigrant from Guinea, didn’t understand a witness’ cries that “They have a gun.” When Green and Akara opened fire, one round struck her in the abdomen and entered her belly, mortally injuring her unborn child.

The child was born at Boston Medical Center but died about 45 minutes later.

The case was prosecuted at trial by former Assistant District Attorney David Meier. The convictions were defended on appeal by Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Celio and Sarah Montgomery. Akara was represented by attorney Kevin Nixon and Green by Brownlow Speer.

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