Two Mattapan men will continue serving state prison sentences after the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld their 2007 convictions on gun charges stemming from an incident outside a Dorchester courthouse, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

The Appeals Court yesterday affirmed the convictions of FERNDY ELYSEE (D.O.B. 8/23/83) and RICHARD DAVIS, Jr. (D.O.B. 6/25/87), found guilty at trial in Suffolk Superior Court on counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm. Elysee and Davis were additionally indicted as repeat offenders; they pleaded guilty to those indictments and were sentenced to state prison terms of six to seven years and six years, respectively.

“Every gun conviction takes a potential shooter off the street,” Conley said, “but those convictions aren’t the end of the road. They have to be built on good arrests and solid trial preparation, and they have to be argued by skilled appellate attorneys to survive legal challenges before the higher courts.”

Elysee and Davis were arrested after a motor vehicle stop on Dec. 19, 2006, in which Boston Police officers recovered two loaded firearms from the area around the back seat of a black Mercedes sport-utility vehicle on Aspinwall Road. The defendants were among five occupants in the vehicle, which police had stopped for failure to signal after a disturbance at Dorchester District Court.

Earlier the same day, Boston Police at the courthouse observed an altercation between members of the Morse Street gang and a young man associated with that group’s rivals, the Lucerne Street Doggz. The officers knew that young man – who would later be among the SUV’s occupants – to have a prior gun arrest. To defuse the situation, the officers instructed him to leave because he had no courthouse business that day.

After pacing briefly in front of a store near the courthouse, the young man returned and told officers that he was waiting for his cousin, whom the officers also knew to have a history of gun arrests. The young man also told officers that the Morse Street group had jumped him inside the courthouse. After the cousin came out of the building, the two walked back across the street to the nearby store, where they were picked up by Davis, Elysee, and a female driver.

After stopping the vehicle, the officers saw the SUV rocking, as if rapid and forceful movements were being made inside. They instructed its occupants to lower their tinted windows and noted that none of the occupants was wearing a seatbelt. One officer asked Davis, who was seated in the left rear seat, for his name and date of birth; Davis refused to answer or look at the officer. When asked a second time, Davis gave the information but denied having any identification until another occupant contradicted him. When asked if he had any weapons, Davis again refused to answer until asked a second time, when he indicated he did not.

The officers ordered Davis out of the vehicle. As he began to exit the SUV, Elysee also moved to the left and officers observed a gun on the floor where Davis’ feet had been. All five occupants were ordered out, and the officers recovered a second gun from between where Davis and Elysee had been seated.

On appeal, the defendants challenged the officers’ order that they exit the vehicle. The Appeals Court ruled that the order was justified, even though Massachusetts courts have forbidden the exit orders during routine motor vehicle stops that are allowed under federal law.

“[A]n exit order is justified where the police have ‘a reasonable belief that the officer’s safety, or the safety of others, is in danger,’” Associate Justice Peter Rubin wrote, quoting a 1999 Supreme Judicial Court ruling in yesterday’s 10-page decision.

“In the totality of the circumstances, there was sufficient justification under this standard for the exit order in this case,” Rubin continued. “First, the SUV had picked up … a member of the Lucerne Street gang, who, while alone, had been acrimoniously confronted and perhaps jumped by members of the rival Morse Street gang, with which the Lucerne Street group was involved in a violent feud …. More importantly, after the SUV was pulled over, and while the police were approaching it, they observed it rocking in a manner consistent with significant movement by the SUV’s occupants. Given the timing of this, it was reasonable for the officers to conclude that this indicated concealment of something, most likely, given the circumstances, a weapon.”

Assistant District Attorney Kris Foster argued the case before the Appeals Court. Davis was represented by attorney Robert Fox and Elysee by attorney Michael Waryasz.